History
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[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Had the other band members left?
| 3 |
Besides Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow, did any other band members leave?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| true |
[
"Kane was a Dutch pop rock band. In its final stage, the group consisted of the two original members, Dinand Woesthoff (lead vocals) and Dennis van Leeuwen (guitar). The band was inspired by U2, Pearl Jam, Queen, and Nirvana.\n\nBiography\nKane got its start in The Hague in 1998, when Dinand and Dennis met each other in a beach cafe where they were both working at the time. Both had a passion for music and it did not take long before they were discovered in a small cafe where they performed for a very small audience.\n\nTheir breakthrough came in the summer of 1999 with the song \"Where Do I Go Now\". Their record As Long as You Want This from 1999 was on the album hit list for 1.5 years and achieved double platinum sales. With their second album in 2001, called So Glad You Made It, the group scored several big hits. One of the biggest hit singles was \"Let It Be\".\n\nIn the following years Kane received some big awards, including TMF awards, MTV Europe music awards, and an Edison. They performed at big festivals like Parkpop and Pinkpop.\n\nWoesthoff devoted the song \"Dreamer\" to his wife Guusje Nederhorst, who died in 2004. This single immediately reached the number 1 chart position and became the best-selling single of 2004.\n\nKane tried to make a career abroad, but with only little success in Belgium and a No. 38 UK chart position for \"Rain Down on Me\", it didn't go too well. The fact that there was an American southern rock band called Kane and that the name of English piano rock band Keane resembles Kane's didn't help them much either.\n\nThe band's third album, Fearless, hit No. 1 on the Dutch charts when it came out. The first two singles, \"Something to Say\" and \"Fearless\", came in at No. 1 as well.\n\nOn 13 August 2005 Kane did an open-air performance on the beach of Almere. It was attended by over 30,000 people. A few days before, the band had performed in front of 1,500 people in Paradiso, Amsterdam. In December 2005, they ended the year with a performance in Rotterdam Ahoy.\n\nIn December 2014, Kane disbanded.\n\nBand members\nKane has had a long history of changes in the band formation. Since their founding in 1998, the group has had 19 different band members, although some of those members only played on the recording of the live album February.\n\nAt the end of 2004, bass player Dion Murdock left the band, as he wanted to play drums for the Dutch band Intwine. Murdock was replaced by Yolanda Charles, who played for Robbie Williams's band. She only played on the album Fearless. Bassist Manuel Hugas, who played on the CD/DVD February too, later played for Kane, but only during live shows.\n\nVocals\n Dinand Woesthoff\n\nGuitars\nDennis van Leeuwen\nRobin Berlin\nPaul Jan Bakker (fired)\nTony Cornelissen (left the band)\n\nBass\nDaniele Labbate\nIvo Severijns (left the band)\nManuel Hugas (left the band)\nYolanda Charles (only on Fearless)\nDion Murdock (left the band)\nAram Kersbergen (left the band)\nMatto Kranenburg (fired)\n\nDrums\n\n Bram Hakkens\n Wim van der Westen (left the band) \nJoost Kroon (left the band)\nMartijn Bosman (left the band)\nAndré Kemp (left the band)\nCyril Directie (left the band)\nSammy de Fretes (original drummer, never recorded)\n\nKeyboards\nAnan den Boer\nNico Brandsen (left the band)\nRonald Kool (left the band)\nRicky van Poppel (left the band)\n\nOthers\nHans Eijkenaar (drums on first album, As Long as You Want This)\nCor Mutsers (guitars)\nWiboud Burkens (piano)\nMike Booth (trumpet)\nPeter Lieberom (saxophone)\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nSingles\n\nOther charted songs\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nOfficial homepage\nBiography of Kane at the Popinstituut, via the Wayback Machine\nBiography of Kane at the Muziekencyclopedie of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision\n\nDutch rock music groups\nMusical groups established in 1998\nMusical groups disestablished in 2014\nMTV Europe Music Award winners\nMusical groups from The Hague",
"Ricardo Confessori (born January 25, 1969) is a Brazilian drummer and a former member of the Brazilian power metal band Angra.\n\nAfter leaving the Brazilian thrash metal band Korzus, Confessori was invited for assume the post of drummer of Angra, after the recording of the album Angels Cry.\n\nIn 2000, Confessori left Angra with singer Andre Matos and bassist Luis Mariutti to form the band Shaman together with guitarist Hugo Mariutti. Shaman released three albums with this line-up: Ritual (2002); RituAlive (live album, released in CD and DVD in 2003); and Reason, in 2005. After the second album, Confessori and Matos had some creative differences. Confessori owned the Shaman name resulting in the other members leaving the band. In 2009, Confessori returned to Angra, replacing the drummer Aquiles Priester. In 2014 it was announced that he had once again left the band.\n\nIn 2016, he was announced as the new drummer for folk metal band Tierramystica. Under the pseudonym \"El Perro Loco\", he also serves as a guest/live musician for parodic heavy metal band Massacration since 2016.\n\nRicardo Confessori endorses: RMV drums and drumheads, Drum Shop USA snares, Zildjian cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks.\n\nReferences \n\n1969 births\nLiving people\nAngra (band) members\nBrazilian heavy metal drummers\nBrazilian people of Italian descent\nMusicians from São Paulo\nShaman (band) members"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Did the Sherbs tout?
| 4 |
Did the Sherbs tour?
|
Sherbet (band)
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The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
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| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| false |
[
"The discography of Sherbet, including releases under the names Highway and The Sherbs, consists of ten studio albums, thirty-eight singles, one extended play, eleven compilation albums, three live albums and two video album/DVDs.\n\nBy February 1979, the band had amassed a total of six platinum and five gold albums in Australia.\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nNotes\n° Australian Music DVD Chart.\n\nExtended plays\n\nSingles\n\nDVDs\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nSherbet / The Sherbs archived from the original on 27 November 2013 at Australian Rock Database. Retrieved 1 March 2014.\nSherbet, Highway, Sherbs at Discogs\n\nSherbet, Sherbs at Rate Your Music\n\nDiscographies of Australian artists\nRock music group discographies",
"Defying Gravity is the ninth studio album by Australian band Sherbet, and second under the name The Sherbs. It was released in 1981. \n\nFrench duo Daft Punk sampled \"We Ride Tonight\" on the song \"Contact\" from the 2013 album Random Access Memories, which was a number one album in many countries.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel \n Bass – Tony Mitchell\n Drums – Alan Sandow \n Guitar – Tony Leigh \n Keyboards – Garth Porter \n Vocals – Daryl Braithwaite \nProduction \n Artwork [Cover] – Alan Ewart \n Engineers – David Price, Richard Lush \n Engineer [Assistant] – Neil Rawle \n Producer – Richard Lush, The Sherbs \n Remastered By – William Bowden\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nSherbet (band) albums\n1981 albums\nAtco Records albums\nFestival Records albums\nInfinity Records albums\nAlbums produced by Richard Lush"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.",
"Did the Sherbs tout?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Did the release any records between 1980 and 1984?
| 5 |
Did The Sherbs release any records between 1980 and 1984?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200.
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| true |
[
"Chipmunks à Go-Go is an album by Alvin and the Chipmunks and David Seville, released by Liberty Records in 1965, again in 1982, and on compact disc in 1990.\n\nEarly pressings of the album incorrectly list the song \"Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows\" as \"Sunshine, Lollipops and Roses\".\n\nDavid Seville does not appear on the album, nor are there any incidents between Seville and the three Chipmunks. Chipmunks à Go-Go also marked the only occasion that Ross Bagdasarian did not provide the singing voices of the Chipmunks. Given the variety of musical styles covered, Bagdasarian opted to hire professional studio performers to handle vocal duties.\n\nTrack listing\n\n\"Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows\" and \"The Race Is On\" were deleted for the 1982 re-release.\n\nReferences\n\n1965 albums\nAlvin and the Chipmunks albums\nLiberty Records albums\nSunset Records albums\nAlbums produced by Dave Pell",
"Sweet and Sentimental is the debut studio album by American country artist, Jan Howard. The album was released by Capitol Records in August 1962 and was produced by Ken Nelson. The record would be Howard's only studio album for the Capitol label and would be her last album release until 1966.\n\nBackground and content \nSweet and Sentimental comprises twelve tracks, mainly consisting of cover version of songs by other artists. The album was recorded in five separate sessions at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee between February and May 1962. Six of the album's twelve tracks had been written by Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard, who was also Jan's husband at the time. Some of these Howard-penned compositions on the album included \"He Called Me Baby\" (which Patsy Cline and Charlie Rich would later record) and \"Heartaches by the Number\" (which had already been a major hit for Guy Mitchell and Ray Price). Sweet and Sentimental also featured Willie Nelson's composition, \"Funny How Time Slips Away\" and a cover of Doris Day's \"Everybody Loves a Lover\". Additional sides that Howard recorded for Capitol during this time, including \"All Alone Again\" and \"My Baby's in Berlin\" were never issued on an official studio album.\n\nRelease \nSweet and Sentimental was officially released in August 1962 under Capitol Records. The album was originally issued on Vinyl and contained six tracks on both sides of the record. Although Capitol did issue singles by Howard, the album itself did not spawn any. Additionally, Sweet and Sentimental did not chart on any album chart by Billboard Magazine.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel \n Jan Howard – vocals\n Ken Nelson – producer\n\nReferences \n\n1962 albums\nJan Howard albums\nCapitol Records albums\nAlbums produced by Ken Nelson (United States record producer)"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.",
"Did the Sherbs tout?",
"I don't know.",
"Did the release any records between 1980 and 1984?",
"first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Were there any singles from The Skill?
| 6 |
Were there any singles from The Skill album?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61.
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| false |
[
"Blue Sky is the first studio album from Hong Kong singer-songwriter Jinny Ng released on 28 May 2012. The album consists of 3 lead singles were \"Day 1 (After Breakup)\", \"My Heart Isn't Broken\" and \"Can't Let You Go\", as well as the cover of \"No More Tears\" by Anita Mui and \"Soulmate\" collaborating with Alfred Hui.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCritical reception \n\nIt has received mixed feedback. It was criticized as a bad album because of the songwriting and Jinny's singing skill.\n\nChart performance\n\nSingles\n\nOther Song\n\nMusic videos \n \n \n \nBesides, there are 2 more music videos for Soulmate.\n\nAwards \nShe had won several awards because of the album. \"Soulmate\" had won a trophy from , Best Collaboration award from , Youth Choice: Collaboration Song from uChannel Music Awards, Bronze Award for Collaboration of the Year from 2011 Young D Hit Songs Awards and from . \"Day 1 (After Breakup)\" had won a trophy from and \"My Heart Isn't Broken\" won an award from .\n\nReferences \n\nJinny Ng albums\n2012 debut albums",
"The 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships were held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from March 6 to 12. Skaters competed in four disciplines: men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.\n\nThe event was open to figure skaters from ISU member nations who on July 1, 2005, had reached the age of 13 but had not yet turned 19 (or 21 for male pair skaters and ice dancers).\n\nThe term \"Junior\" refers to the age level rather than the skill level. Therefore, some of the skaters competing had competed nationally and internationally at the senior level, but were still age-eligible for Junior Worlds.\n\nThe compulsory dance was the Austrian Waltz. Due to the large number of participants, the men's and ladies' qualifying groups were split into groups A and B. Scores did not carry over from qualifying.\n\nMedals table\n\nResults\n\nMen\n\nLadies\n\nPairs\n\nIce dancing\n\nExternal links\n\n 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships\n Official site\n\nWorld Junior Figure Skating Championships\nWorld Junior Figure Skating Championships, 2006\nF\nWorld Junior 2006"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.",
"Did the Sherbs tout?",
"I don't know.",
"Did the release any records between 1980 and 1984?",
"first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200.",
"Were there any singles from The Skill?",
"I Have the Skill\", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Did they have other chart success in the US?
| 7 |
Besides charting at No. 61, Did The Sherbs have other chart success in the US?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
"No Turning Back".
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| true |
[
"The discography of Deftones, an American alternative metal band, consists of nine studio albums, three extended plays, three compilation albums, five demo albums and 22 singles. Their back-catalogue of B-side material encompasses 52 tracks. One release is certified gold by the RIAA in recognition of shipments exceeding 500,000 copies, and three are certified platinum for exceeding one million copies. They have sold over 10 million albums worldwide.\n\nDeftones formed in 1988 in Sacramento, California. Their first commercially released album was Adrenaline, in 1995. It peaked at number 23 in the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, its success attributable to word-of-mouth and rigorous touring and live performance. 1997's Around the Fur was far more successful, peaking at number one on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, and at number 29 on the Billboard 200. It was also their first international success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 56. The album provided their first ever charting singles, \"My Own Summer (Shove It)\" and \"Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)\". White Pony was released in 2000 to critical acclaim and unprecedented commercial success, peaking at number three in the US. Singles \"Change (In the House of Flies)\" and \"Digital Bath\" supported the album's release. A single entitled \"Back to School (Mini Maggit)\" was released as a rap-influenced reinterpretation of White Pony's closing track, \"Pink Maggit\". While commercially successful and a fan favorite, the band have vociferously objected to its publication. White Pony was subsequently re-released with \"Back to School (Mini Maggit)\" as the album's opening track.\n\nThe eponymous Deftones was released in 2003, peaking at number two in the US, and garnering widespread international success. B-Sides & Rarities saw a release in 2005, bringing together unreleased and obscure material accrued since 1995. 2006's Saturday Night Wrist, completed after a protracted and tumultuous recording process, reached number ten in the US. \"Hole in the Earth\" peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, while \"Mein\" only reached number 40 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The band's sixth album, Diamond Eyes, was released on May 4, 2010. It saw the release of the popular singles \"Rocket Skates\", \"You've Seen the Butcher\" and \"Diamond Eyes\". In November 2012, Deftones released their seventh studio album titled Koi No Yokan, which spawned the singles \"Leathers\", \"Tempest\", \"Swerve City\" and \"Romantic Dreams\". Their eighth studio album, Gore, was released on April 8, 2016, and spawned the singles \"Prayers / Triangles\", \"Doomed User\", and \"Hearts / Wires\". Ohms, Deftones’ ninth album, was released in 2020 with the eponymous single “Ohms” and the single “Genesis”.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nDemo albums\n\nVideo albums\n\nUnreleased albums\n\nExtended plays\n\nSingles\n\nPromotional singles\n\nB-sides\n\nOriginal material\n\nCovers\n\nAcoustic versions\n\nRemixes\n\nLive versions\nAll live tracks from the two \"My Own Summer (Shove It)\" singles, respectively, were compiled into a live EP entitled Live.\n\nMusic videos\n\nNotes\n\nA \"Change (In the House of Flies)\" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.\nB \"Minerva\" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.\nC \"Rocket Skates\" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 12 on the Hot Singles Sales chart.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n [ Deftones] at Allmusic\n\nDiscography\nDiscographies of American artists\nHeavy metal group discographies",
"Ollie & Jerry was an American dance-pop duo active in the 1980s, consisting of drummer Ollie E. Brown and R&B singer/bassist Jerry Knight.\n\nDespite releasing no studio albums under their own name, they are still widely known for their hit single \"Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us\", a dance-influenced track which became a top 10 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and was featured as the theme to the film Breakin' and released on its accompanying soundtrack. However, the group disbanded in mid-1985, after the release of their second single \"Electric Boogaloo\". As a result, \"Electric Boogaloo\" failed to repeat the success of \"Breakin'...\" and the duo is widely considered a one-hit wonder.\n\nHistory\nOllie Brown and Jerry Knight had previously worked together as session musicians, with Knight having also been a member of R&B group Raydio, to whose albums Brown had frequently contributed as a session drummer. The two formed Ollie & Jerry in Los Angeles, California in 1984, signing to Polydor Records. The duo recorded the song \"Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us\" as the title theme to the 1984 film Breakin', and released as the first single from the film's soundtrack album. The single became a hit, peaking at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. The group then did some promotion for the song, performing on the syndicated television program Soul Train in the midst of the success of the song. The Breakin' soundtrack went on to peak at No. 8 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart.\n\nThe following year, the duo released the single \"Electric Boogaloo\", the title theme to the Breakin' sequel Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The single did fairly well on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 57 on the chart. However, the song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100; it did, however, find some minor success on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Dance Club Play charts, peaking at the positions of No. 45 and No. 43 respectively. After the song's release, the duo split in mid-1985.\n\nDiscography\n\nSingles\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nDiscography at Discogs.\n\nMusical groups established in 1984\nAmerican pop music groups\nAmerican dance music groups\nAmerican musical duos"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.",
"Did the Sherbs tout?",
"I don't know.",
"Did the release any records between 1980 and 1984?",
"first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200.",
"Were there any singles from The Skill?",
"I Have the Skill\", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61.",
"Did they have other chart success in the US?",
"\"No Turning Back\"."
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Where did "No Turning Back" place on the US charts?
| 8 |
Where did the album No Turning Back" place on the US charts?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
1981:
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
|-
| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
|-
| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| true |
[
"No Turning Back may refer to:\n\nPolitics\n No Turning Back (political group), a group within the British Conservative Party\n\nMusic\n No Turning Back (Burning Starr album), 1986\n No Turning Back (Out of Eden album), 1999\n No Turning Back (Imelda May album), 2003\n No Turning Back (Brandon Heath album), 2015\n No Turning Back, a 1979 album by Kevin Borich Express\n No Turning Back, a 1989 album by Ian Stuart Donaldson\n No Turning Back, a 1990 album by Jimi Hocking's band Jimi the Human & Spectre 7\n No Turning Back, a 1998 album by Jersey (band)\n No Turning Back, a 2003 album by Hilton Schilder\n No Turning Back, a 2005 album by Calyx (musician)\n No Turning Back: 1985–2005, a DVD collection by Glass Tiger\n \"No Turning Back\", a 1986 single by Blyss feat. Krystal Davis\n \"No Turning Back\", a 2008 single by This Beautiful Republic\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1959 EP Serious Charge (EP) by Cliff Richard and the Drifters\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1980 album The Skill by the Sherbs\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1986 soundtrack album of Biggles (film)\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1992 album Live at Budokan (Stormtroopers of Death album)\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1992 album Mexican Power by Proper Dos\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1993 album Revelation (Ultravox album)\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 1998 album Destiny (Stratovarius album)\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2001 album The Anger and the Truth by the Unseen\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2005 album Trish by Trish Thuy Trang\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2008 compilation album No Turning Back: The Story So Far by Shannon Noll\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2009 album As Day Follows Night by Sarah Blasko\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2012 compilation album Monsters, Vol. 3 by Figure (musician)\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2012 compilation album Fabric 62 by DJ Sneak\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2012 album Midnight Theatre by ROMEO\n \"No Turning Back\", a song on the 2014 album Evolution (Hed PE album)\n\nTelevision\n \"No Turning Back\", an episode of Drive (2007 TV series)\n \"No Turning Back\", an episode of The Beast (2009 TV series)\n \"No Turning Back\", an episode of the 2009 TV series DietTribe\n\nLiterature\n No Turning Back, a 1964 book by Polingaysi Qöyawayma\n No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa, a 1995 book by Beverley Naidoo\n No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women, a 2002 book by Estelle Freedman\n No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species, a 2004 book by Richard Ellis (biologist)\n No Turning Back, a 2006 book by Joanne Lees\n No Turning Back: One Man's Inspiring True Story of Courage, Determination, and Hope, a 2011 book by Bryan Anderson (author)\n No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria, a 2018 book by Rania Abouzeid\n\nSee also\n Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back, a 1995 martial arts action film directed by Phillip Rhee",
"\"Thinkin' Back\" is an R&B and Pop song by American music group Color Me Badd from their debut album, C.M.B. (1991). It was released as the fifth single (fourth in North America) in January 1992. The song is about a deteriorating relationship, and while the protagonist's partner did them wrong, they are still lonely, and want to turn back time to go back to when their relationship was in a good place.\n\n\"Thinkin' Back\" was another successful single, but did not perform as well as its 3 preceding songs (all which were top 2 hits, and performed strongly worldwide). On the US Billboard Hot 100, the song reached number #16 on April 4, 1992, and lasted 20 weeks on the chart. It also peaked at #31 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart lasting 9 weeks on the chart, and #35 in Canada, while not charting anywhere else internationally.\n\nMusic Video\n\nThe music video was directed by Marcus Nispel, and was filmed/produced by Portfolio Artists Network. It was shot in black and white, and was edited to coincide with the conceptual theme in the video regarding the passage of time, as each edit aligned with the beats of the music. It received strong recurring play and support on MTV, and to a lesser extent BET, which helped the performance of the song.\n\nCritical reception\n\nLarry Flick from Billboard wrote, \"Those Badd boys show no sign of cooling off, thanks to this lush, R&B-powered ballad. Spotlight is on group's tightly woven harmonies and song's romantic lyrics. Another multiformat hit from the \"C.M.B.\" album.\"\n\nTrack listings\nUS Vinyl, 12, Promo\"\nA1 Thinkin' Back (Radio Edit)\t3:49\nA2 Thinkin' Back (XXX Version)\t4:39\nB1 Thinkin' Back (Album Version)\t5:22\nB2 Thinkin' Back (A Cappella)\t5:22\n\nUS Vinyl, 7\"\n1 Thinkin' Back (Album Version)\t5:23\n2 Thinkin' Back (XXX Version)\t4:39\n\nUS CD, Single, Promo\"\n1 Thinkin' Back (Radio Edit)\t3:49\n2 Thinkin' Back (XXX Version)\t4:39\n3 Thinkin' Back (More Radio Edit)\t3:44\n\nUS CD, Single, Promo\"\n1 Thinkin' Back (Edited Master)\t3:56\n2 Thinkin' Back (A Cappella)\t4:08\n3 Thinkin' Back (Album Version)\t5:26\n4 Thinkin' Back (Pop Mix With Piano)\t6:54\n\nUS Cassette, Single\"\nA Thinkin' Back (Album Version)\t5:22\nB Thinkin' Back (XXX Version)\t4:39\n\nPersonnel\nProducer – Hamza Lee, Royal Bayyan\nWritten-By – Color Me Badd, Hamza Lee, Troy Taylor (9)(10)\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences \n\n1992 songs\n1992 singles\nColor Me Badd songs\nGiant Records (Warner) singles\nSongs written by Sam Watters"
] |
[
"Sherbet (band)",
"The Sherbs era (1980-1984)",
"Why did the start to be known as the Sherbs?",
"The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound.",
"Were there any lineup changes associated with the name change?",
"Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow.",
"Had the other band members left?",
"James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar.",
"Did the Sherbs tout?",
"I don't know.",
"Did the release any records between 1980 and 1984?",
"first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200.",
"Were there any singles from The Skill?",
"I Have the Skill\", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61.",
"Did they have other chart success in the US?",
"\"No Turning Back\".",
"Where did \"No Turning Back\" place on the US charts?",
"1981:"
] |
C_261ef364559f45e0b8a35bc01c403448_0
|
Were they successful in any other countries?
| 9 |
Besides The USA, were The Sherbs successful in any other countries?
|
Sherbet (band)
|
The breakup did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday. The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group - under any of their names - to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 - the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier. The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboard's Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and - despite their newer, more contemporary sound - the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday. James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to the Sherbet name and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. CANNOTANSWER
|
Australia,
|
Sherbet (aka Highway or The Sherbs) was one of the most successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-oriented pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.
According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "alongside Skyhooks, Sherbet was the most successful Australian pop band of the 1970s. With a run of 20 consecutive hit singles to its credit, and 17 albums that yielded ten platinum and 40 gold disc awards, Sherbet was the first domestic act to sell a million dollars' worth of records in Australia". In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer. On 23 January 2019 Denis Loughlin died after a long battle with cancer.
History
From 1970 until 1984 Sherbet scored 20 hit singles in Australia (including two number ones) and released ten platinum status albums. The single "Howzat" which was a number-one hit in 1976, also reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. They were the first Australian band to reach $1 million in record sales in Australia, and they pioneered the concept of massive regional tours. In December 1976, the book Sherbet on Tour, by Christie Eliezer, sold 30,000 copies in its first week.
Formation and early years (1969–1972)
Sherbet was formed in Sydney in April 1969, with Denis Loughlin (ex-Sebastian Hardie Blues Band, Clapham Junction) on vocals, Doug Rea (ex Downtown Roll Band) on bass guitar, Sammy See (ex Clapham Junction) on organ, guitar and vocals, Clive Shakespeare (ex-Downtown Roll Band) on lead guitar and vocals, and Danny Taylor (ex Downtown Roll Band) on drums. Initially they were a soul band, playing Motown covers and rock-based material. Alan Sandow (ex-Daisy Roots) had replaced Taylor on drums by July. Sherbet signed to the Infinity Records label, a subsidiary of Festival Records. In March 1970, the band's debut single was issued, a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships", from that band's January 1970 album Magic Christian Music.
During 1970, the band played a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. They were spotted by their future manager, Roger Davies. By March Daryl Braithwaite (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) had joined, initially sharing lead vocals with Loughlin who left the band a few months later. Braithwaite's former bandmate Bruce Worrall (Bright Lights, House of Bricks, Samael Lilith) took over from Rea on bass guitar. By year's end the group undertook their first national tour. See had left in October to join The Flying Circus and was replaced by New Zealand-born Garth Porter (Samael Lilith, Toby Jugg) who provided Hammond organ and electric piano.
In 1971, Sherbet entered Australia's prestigious national rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and won the New South Wales final but lost the national final to Adelaide-based band Fraternity (led by Bon Scott later in AC/DC). They entered again in 1972 and won the national final, previous winners include The Twilights (1966) and The Groove (1968), which went on to achieve major commercial success.
Sherbet's first chart hits on the Go-Set National Top 40 were covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (September 1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (February 1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (September 1972). Most of their early recordings were produced by Festival's in-house producer Richard Batchens, who later produced albums and singles for another Infinity label mate, Richard Clapton. The band increased its profile with prestigious support slots on major tours by visiting international acts including Gary Glitter and The Jackson 5.
Rise to stardom (1972–1975)
In January 1972, Sherbet's 'classic line-up' was in place when Tony Mitchell replaced Worrall on bass guitar: the band now consisted of lead vocalist Braithwaite, keyboardist Porter, drummer Sandow, bassist Mitchell and guitarist Shakespeare. The band had evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. Nevertheless, they released occasional covers throughout the 1970s, including Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and Free's "Wishing Well". From 1972 to 1976, Sherbet's chief songwriting team of Porter and Shakespeare were responsible for co-writing the lion's share of the band's material, which combined British pop and American soul influences.
Sherbet issued their debut album, Time Change... A Natural Progression, in December 1972 on Infinity Records. Also that month the band were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of Go-Set in their annual pop poll. The album's accompanying single "You've Got the Gun", written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite, was Sherbet's first self-penned A-side, and peaked at No. 29 in January 1973.
In December 1973, the band hit the Go-Set Top 10 for the first time with the Porter and Shakespeare original, "Cassandra". It was issued in October ahead of their second album, On with the Show released in November, which peaked at No. 6 on the Go-Set Top 20 Australian Albums Chart in February 1974. It was followed by "Slipstream" which reached No. 7 on Go-Sets National Top 40 in August. A string of hits followed on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart (replaced Go-Set charts after August), with Sherbet releasing original Top 10 hits such as "Silvery Moon" (1974) and their first number-one hit "Summer Love" (1975). A total of 11 Sherbet songs reached the Australian top 10.
The band were the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers: for six years in a row they were voted 'Most Popular Australian Group' by readers of TV Week for their King of Pop Awards from 1973 to 1978. From 1975 they made more appearances on national TV pop show Countdown than any other band in the programme's history. Band members – especially Braithwaite – often appeared as co-hosts. According to contemporary musician, Dave Warner, "[t]hey had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy, weirdo, heavy-riff persona favoured by their peers". Sherbet's albums also charted on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart with October 1974's Slipstream peaking at No. 5, 1975's Life... Is for Living reached No. 6, and their first compilation album, Greatest Hits 1970-75, from 1975 became their first number-one album.
From 1974, Braithwaite maintained a parallel solo career with Sherbet members often playing on his solo singles. Braithwaite was voted 'King of Pop' for three successive years, 1975 to 1977. Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had started as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped engineer some of The Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles, including "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time". Throughout this era, Sherbet toured Australia regularly and with remarkable thoroughness; they were one of the few bands to consistently commit to playing full-scale concerts in regional areas of the country.
The idea for the satin bomber jackets came from Garth Porter. He got an American baseball jacket in an Op Shop. When they were having their clothes designed (by Richard Tyler), Garth said: "If you're going to make me anything just make me something like this," showing him the satin bomber jacket. Before they knew what was happening, the trend took hold and everybody in the band was having them made up to their own requirements. Their management then went as far as using it as a marketing tool for the band.
International success (1976–1979)
In January 1976, Shakespeare left Sherbet citing 'personal reasons'. He later explained "I couldn't even go out the front of my house because there were all these girls just hanging on the fence [...] There was always a deadline for Garth and me - another album, another tour. When it did finally end, I was relieved more than anything because I had had enough. I left the band early in 1976 for reasons I don't want to discuss fully … but let's just say I wasn't happy about where all the money went". The last single he played on was "Child's Play", which was a No. 5 hit in February. Shakespeare was briefly replaced by journeyman guitarist Gunther Gorman (ex-Home) but within weeks a more permanent replacement, Harvey James (ex-Mississippi, Ariel) joined. Meanwhile, Mitchell had stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The pair were responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success led to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to number one in Australia, and in New Zealand, it was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, number six in The Netherlands, and number eight in Norway. It reached the top 10 in South Africa, South-East Asia, and Israel. The single had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album of the same name also made No. 1 in Australia, No. 12 in New Zealand, but failed to chart in the US.
In 1976, the release of the double A-sided single "Rock Me Gently/You've Got the Gun" saw the record company place full page ads in Billboard. The promotion went on to state the band had a sound "as sophisticated pop/rock along the lines of Chicago or Three Dog Night". It goes on to say the single has "the unique distinction of having received heavy airplay before it was shipped".
Hoping to achieve further international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.
By this time the band's career in Australia had begun to decline. Though the Sherbet album peaked at No. 3, "Another Night on the Road" (1978) was Sherbet's final top 10 Australian hit. The band's next single, "Beg, Steal or Borrow" missed the chart completely, and January 1979's "Angela" – from the soundtrack to the film Snapshot – reached the top 100 - but only just.
The group's Australian success was on the wane, and either as Sherbet or as Highway, they were unable to come up with a follow-up international hit to "Howzat". Frustrated by the career downturn, after issuing a final single in Australia as Highway – "Heart Get Ready" – which flopped at No. 89, the band broke up in mid-1979. Throughout the 1970s, the group was managed by Roger Davies. The group briefly reunited for the Concert of the Decade held on 4 November 1979 at the Sydney Opera House and sponsored by radio station 2SM – an edited hour of concert footage was broadcast by the Nine Network under the same name and a double-LP was issued on Mushroom Records later that month. During the concert, Mitchell also supplied bass guitar for Neale Johns' set (see Blackfeather) and then Stevie Wright's rendition of his solo hit "Evie".
The Sherbs era (1980–1984)
The break-up did not last long. In 1980, Sherbet reconvened as The Sherbs with exactly the same personnel they had before the split: Braithwaite, Harvey, Mitchell, Porter and Sandow. The new renamed iteration of the group also changed their approach, as they now featured a somewhat modified progressive new wave sound. This version of the band had some minor success in America, but their almost complete lack of chart action in Australia was in stark contrast to their 1970s heyday.
The Sherbs' first album The Skill was released in October 1980 and reached the top half of the Billboard 200. It was the first album by the group – under any of their names – to chart in the US. An accompanying single, "I Have the Skill", became the band's second US pop chart hit at No. 61. The Sherbs also appeared on the inaugural AOR-oriented Rock Tracks chart issued by Billboard in March 1981: "I Have the Skill" debuted at No. 45. The track peaked at No. 14 – the band's highest position on any US chart, and The Sherbs also received airplay on US album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations with "No Turning Back". However, none of the singles from The Skill reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 100, a huge comedown for a band that had been major charting artists in Australia only two years earlier.
The Sherbs's second album, Defying Gravity, followed in 1981, but failed to produce a single that charted in the either the US or Australian top 100. The band did, however, chart on Billboards Rock Tracks Chart with the album cut "We Ride Tonight" peaking at No. 26 in 1982. The track's mild AOR success was not enough to ignite album sales in the US, though, and Defying Gravity only reached No. 202 on the album charts. A mini-album, Shaping Up, appeared in 1982. It was critically well received and spawned two minor hits in Australia, but the US issue missed the chart completely. The Sherbs were now in a position where the US listening public were largely indifferent to their releases, and – despite their newer, more contemporary sound – the Australian audience had seemingly written them off as a relic of the 1970s. Porter has said that he found this especially frustrating, as he felt The Sherbs were actually writing and performing better material during this era than in their 1970s heyday.
James left The Sherbs at the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh (Harry Young and Sabbath, Gillian Eastoe Band) on guitar. In late 1983, the group announced their decision to disband in 1984, they reverted to Sherbet and undertook a successful farewell tour of Australia and a final single, "Tonight Will Last Forever". Shakespeare returned to co-write and appear on the final single. Both Shakespeare and James rejoined Sherbet on the final tour. Following the group's break-up, Braithwaite continued his solo career in Australia, and Porter and Shakespeare each became successful record producers. In 1990 Sherbet were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame alongside classical composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.
Reunions (1998–2011)
Sherbet have reunited on occasion over subsequent years. Their first reunion was an ABC-TV special on New Year's Eve 1998. They performed "Howzat" and "Summer Love" without Sandow – John Watson (ex-Kevin Borich Band, Australian Crawl) filled in on drums. On 10 March 2001 with Sandow on board, the band reunited for Gimme Ted – a benefit concert for Ted Mulry, with two songs recorded for the associated 2×DVD tribute album released in May 2003. In June 2003 Sherbet performed at another benefit show for Wane Jarvis (a former roadie).
At the May 2006 Logie Awards Sherbet reunited as a six-piece: Braithwaite, James, Mitchell, Porter, Sandow and Shakespeare, where they performed "Howzat". The band played three shows in late August 2006 billed as Daryl Braithwaite and Highway. They followed by joining the Countdown Spectacular tour throughout Australia during September and October. 2006 also saw the release of two newly recorded tracks on the compilation album, Sherbet – Super Hits, "Red Dress" (Porter, Shakespeare, Braithwaite, Mitchell, James, Sandow) and "Hearts Are Insane" (Porter), both produced by Ted Howard.
2007 saw the release of a live compilation on CD and DVD entitled Live – And the Crowd Went Wild encompassing material recorded in the 1970s at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and the UK. Sherbet performed on the Countdown Spectacular 2 in August and September. On 15 January 2011 Harvey James died of lung cancer – the remaining members except Shakespeare, who was too ill, performed at Gimme that Guitar, a tribute concert for James on 17 February. On 15 February 2012 Clive Shakespeare died of prostate cancer.
Discography
Time Change... A Natural Progression – 1972
On with the Show – 1973
Slipstream – 1974
Life... Is for Living – 1975
Howzat! – 1976
Photoplay – 1977
Sherbet – 1978 (Released overseas as Highway 1 by Highway)
The Skill – 1980 by The Sherbs
Defying Gravity – 1981 by The Sherbs
Shaping Up – 1982 by The Sherbs (Mini-LP)
Band members
Arranged chronologically:
Denis Loughlin – lead vocals (1969–1970)
Doug Rea – bass guitar (1969)
Sam See – keyboards,organ, guitar, vocals (1969–1970)
Clive Shakespeare – guitar, vocals (1969–1976, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 February 2012)
Danny Taylor – drums (1969)
Alan Sandow – drums, percussion, bongoes, chimes (1969–1984, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals, tambourine, tabla (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Bruce Worrall – bass guitar (1970–1972)
Garth Porter – keyboards, clavinet, piano, lead vocals, backing vocals, Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesiser (1970–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Tony Mitchell – bass guitar, ukulele, backing vocals (1972–1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011)
Gunther Gorman – guitar (1976)
Harvey James – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar (1976–1982, 1984, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) (died 15 January 2011)
Tony Leigh – guitar (1982–1984)
John Watson – drums (1998)
Gabe James (2011)
Josh James (2011)
Awards and nominations
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. Sherbet were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.
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| ARIA Music Awards of 1990
| Sherbet
| ARIA Hall of Fame
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Go-Set Pop Poll
The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities.
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| rowspan="2"| 1972
| themselves
| Best Australian Group
| style="background:gold;"| 1st
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| "You're All Woman"
| Best Australian Single
| style="background:silver"| 2nd
|-
King of Pop Awards
The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of TV Week. The King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978.
NB: wins only
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| 1973
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
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|-
| 1974
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
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|-
| rowspan="3"| 1975
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
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|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
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|-
| "Summer Love"
| Most Popular Australian single
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|-
| rowspan="4"| 1976
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
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|-
| Howzat
| Most Popular Australian album
|
|-
| "Howzat"
| Most Popular Australian single
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1977
| Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet)
| King of Pop
|
|-
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
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|-
| Photoplay
| Most Popular Australian album
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|-
| "Magazine Madonna"
| Most Popular Australian single
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|-
| 1978
| themselves
| Most Popular Australian Group
|
TV Week / Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
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| 1979
| themselves
| Most Popular Group
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|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Webcuts On-line essay celebrating "Magazine Madonna"
Sherbet Slips into Something Comfortable photographed by Lewis Morley for POL October/November 1974. Exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 15 March – 18 May 2003.
Sherbet Today (2006)
Sherbet scrapbooks at the National Library of Australia
Australian rock music groups
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
New South Wales musical groups
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 1984
Atco Records artists
| true |
[
"The Albania women's national basketball team () represents Albania in international women's basketball competitions, and is controlled by the Albanian Basketball Association.\n\nHistory\nAlbania women's national basketball team are quite successful in European Basketball. Being successful at the Mediterranean Games an international sport's competition they would win successfully in 1987 at the finals against the women's from Turkey, in their first ever appearance as well.\n\nThe Albanian women's would compete in two competitions such as the International Mediterranean Games in which , they qualify three times for Basketball at the Mediterranean Games first in Basketball at the 1987 Mediterranean Games in Latakia , Syria. Then in 1991 in Athens, Greece and recently in 2009 in Pescara, Italy. The Albanian women's would also compete at the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries three times as well in their history first in 1996. Winning this Tournament in 2002 against Iceland in the finals.\n\nThe Albanian women's national basketball team are the most successful National team for Albania in Basketball winning two gold medals in European and International competitions in fact. First in 1987 and in 2002 as well. They would win also win two silver medals at the Small countries tournament first in 1996 and lately in 2008 as well. They won four medals in their successful Basketball history.\n\nTheir biggest success came in their first ever appearance in Basketball at the 1987 Mediterranean Games in Latakia in which they would beat the Turkey women's national basketball team in the finals to win this Competition , in their first ever appearance as well. It is their one and only international competition they won, in their history. Despite that it is the biggest success for Albania in International or European Basketball.\n\nMedalists in Basketball for the 1987 Mediterranean Games\n\nMedal table for the Albanian Women's in Basketball at the Mediterranean Games\n\nAlbania Women's ranking in Basketball at the Mediterranean Games \nAlbania women's national basketball team is the 5th most successful Nation at this Sport, winning once gold in their history at this competition so far. \n\nIn the next two appearances the Albanian women couldn't repeat the success they had in their first campaign. In their next campaign in Basketball at the 1991 Mediterranean Games in Greece. The Albanian women's weren't able to repeat their success and finish 5th at the end. Behind Spain, France and Greece.\n\nThe Albanian women's would lately compete for the Basketball at the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Italy. In Group A they would face Croatia and Italy. The Albanian women's were this time without any chances losing both matches heavily in the process. Albania would then receive a bye in the Semifinals for the 5th place bracket, do to the competition having only 7 nations participated for it. It would be their final Appearance in any International competition to this day so far for the Albanian women's national basketball team.\n\nFinal standing in Group A\n\nAlbania's results in Group A \n 130 - 35 \n\n 118 – 35 \n\nThe Albania womens would then face in the Finals for the finals the females from Turkey. This time around they couldn't beat the opposition like they did previously in their winning campaign. They would loss despite an improved performance at the end with 60-89. Finishing their third and final appearance in the Mediterranean Games at the 6th place out of seven nations.\n\nFinal for the 5th place \n 60 - 89\n\nFinal Standings in Basketball at the 2009 Mediterranean Games\n\nAlbania women's national basketball team successful campaign's at the Small countries championships from 1996 - 2008 \nThe Albanian women's would also participate three times in the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries first in 1996 and for the latest participation in Luxemburg 2008 as well. Showing in all of the three tournaments they participated some good results. In their first participation in the Small Countries championship in Malta 1996 the Albanian women would loss in the finals against Iceland with an result of 81–73 at the end.\nAlbania then once again competed in this Competition in Andorra 2002 this time around the Albanian women's took revenge on Iceland and would win this competition for the first time with an impressive display , they could beat them with an result of 84–79 in the process. It was for the Albanian women their second gold medal in any European or World Basketball competition in their history. Winning all of their five matches in their campaign. Still their latest titel win in their Basketball history. In their third and final campaign in the Small Countries Championship in 2008 Luxemburg edition. For the third time straight they would reach the finals in this competition but will loss at the finals against Malta with 61-81 missing out on their second title at this tournament.\n\nThe final for the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries in Valetta 1996 \n 81 - 73 \nFor the Albanian women's national Basketball team their first final since 9 years and it is their first medal won , since 9 years as well. Winning at the end the silver medal in the process.\n\nFinal for the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries in Andorra 2002 \n 84–79 \nFor the Albanian women's national Basketball team their first gold medal in this competition. Their second final against the Iceland women's national basketball team as well. It would be their first gold medal since 15 years after their win at the 1987 Mediterranean Games in Syria. It is for the Albanian women's their last gold medal they won at this Sport in fact.\n\nThe final for the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries in Luxemburg 2008 \n 81 - 61 \nDespite the loss against the Malta women's national basketball team Albania would win silver once again. The Albanian women's would reach in all off their three appearances the final at this tournament. After six years off wait. They won their third and final medal at this competition. One gold and two silver medals at the end. It would be until this day their last final they would participate as an Basketball National team in their history.\n\nAlbanian result's at the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries\n\nAlbania's ranking in the FIBA Women's European Championship for Small Countries \n\nThe Albanian women being once again the 5th most successful nation at this Tournament, overtaking in the table successful nations at this sport such as Turkey, also Denmark or Macedonia as well.\n\nDespite all off that the Albanians women's couldn't qualify for any other Tournament since their latest participation in Basketball at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.\n\nCompetitions\n\nSmall Countries\n\nMediterranean Games\n\nTeam\n\nCurrent roster\n\n|}\n| valign=\"top\" |\n Head coach\n\nLegend\nClub – describes lastclub before the competition\nAge – describes ageas of 19 July 2015\n|}\n\nSee also\n Albania women's national under-19 basketball team\n Albania women's national under-17 basketball team\n Albania men's national basketball team\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAlbanian Basketball Association (Official website)\nAlbanian Women National Team at eurobasket.com\n\n \nWomen's national basketball teams",
"Scandinavian Australians are Australian citizens whose origins are found in any of the Nordic countries, or people from any of these countries who live in Australia. Danish immigrants made up the largest group by far. Although Finland is significantly different culturally from other Scandinavian countries and as such is not usually counted among them, it is still counted as one in the Australian censuses for the sake of statistics.\n\nCountries of origin \nThis is a list of the countries of origin. The numbers indicate the people born in their home countries and people born in Australia of Scandinavian descent.\n\nIcelandic Australians \nThese citizens are Australian of Icelandic ancestry, or persons born in Iceland residing in Australia. The largest emigration from Iceland to Australia took place in the late 1960's, when the Australian government offered immigrants financial assistance at a time when the employment situation in Iceland was bleak. There were 980 residents who reported Icelandic ancestry in the 2011 census. They form the smallest part of the wider Scandinavian Australian group usually included in the census.\n\nSee also \nEuropeans in Oceania\nImmigration to Australia\n\nReferences \n\n \nAustralia"
] |
[
"Ruhollah Khomeini",
"Islamic constitution"
] |
C_2bf2b3d7e1cb48e1acfbc373119171b7_1
|
Why is the Islamic constitution important to Khomeini
| 1 |
Why is the Islamic constitution important to Ruhollah Khomeini?
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Ruhollah Khomeini
|
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists (Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam"). Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Iranian Shia religious scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had allegedly violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August. Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 17 January 1979, the Shah left the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran 120 journalists accompanied him, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement--much discussed at the time and since--was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God." As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?" Although revolutionaries were now in charge and Khomeini was their leader, some opposition groups claim that several secular and religious groups were unaware of Khomeini's plan for Islamic government by wilayat al-faqih, which involved rule by a marja' Islamic cleric. They claim that this provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was clearly defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state. Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic. In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. CANNOTANSWER
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the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform
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Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 19003 June 1989), also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the 1st Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.
Khomeini was born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.
Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Sharia) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of welayat-el faqih, the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution), was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to The New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution. Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence, and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture". In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt. Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan." Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners, war criminals and prisoners of the Iran–Iraq War).
He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity", a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars, who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy. Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others. In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents, and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. A cult of personality developed around Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution.
Early years
Background
Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur, Khorasan Province, in northeastern part of Iran, for a short stay, to the Kingdom of Awadh, a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters. The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, near Lucknow, the capital of Awadh. Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor. He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India. In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein. Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals. Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the Tobacco Protest.
Childhood
According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902, the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustapha Musavi, over two years after his birth in 1903.
Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far, and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.
Education and lecturing
After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi. In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh), but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini. However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi, and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.
Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic, and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.
Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant, The Decanter of Love and Turning Point, and Divan. His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."
Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics. He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.
Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on irfan and Mulla Sadra to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, Sharh Du'a al-Sahar (Commentary on the Du'a al-Baha), "a detailed commentary, in Arabic, on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq", followed, some years later, by Sirr al-Salat (Secret of the Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of Ibn 'Arabi. As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of Sirr al-Salat, has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among the spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by BRILL in 2015, under the title "The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics ".
Political aspects
His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book, Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering of Secrets) published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hezar sale (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi, as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones, and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja''' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.
Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as Sheikh Fazlollah Noori and Abol-Ghasem Kashani. Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as a "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution.
Early political activity
Background
Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama, and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.
At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following the deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent, Shi'ah religious leader; and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power. Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah, instituted a "White Revolution", which was a further challenge to the Ulama.
Opposition to the White Revolution
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both the Shah and his reform plan. Two days later, the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class.
Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Shia religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and the deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini remained under house arrest until August.
Opposition to capitulation
On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran.Shirley, Know Thine Enemy (1997), p. 207. What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law, was in fact a "status-of-forces agreement", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to the Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam, a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder.
Life in exile
Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence. In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château, a suburb of Paris, France, on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978.According to Alexandre de Marenches, chief of External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (now known as the DGSE), the Shah did not ask France to expel Khomeini for fear that the cleric should move to Syria or Libya. (source: Christine Ockrent et Alexandre de Marenches, Dans le secret des princes, Stock, 1986, , p. 254) [Donate book to Archive.org]
By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906–07 – as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih).
This was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (Sharia), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
Since Shariah, or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia. Since Islamic jurists or faqih have studied and are the most knowledgeable in Sharia, the country's ruler should be a faqih who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, (known as a marja'), as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) has been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam.
This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice, corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or "Supreme Leader". In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. In Iran, a number of actions of the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime.
Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.
After the 1977 death of Ali Shariati (an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author/academic/philosopher who greatly assisted the Islamic revival among young educated Iranians), Khomeini became the most influential leader of the opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and the event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. He was perceived by many Iranians as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. Additionally, the episode with Khomeini's face in the moon showed that in late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran.
As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian Ervand Abrahamian described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing the general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest.
Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the People's Mujahedin of Iran during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah.
Khomeini's contact with the US
According to the BBC, Khomeini's contact with the US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to the US."
According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent a message to the United States Government through [Tehran University professor] Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed "that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence".
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including Ebrahim Yazdi (Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution) have questioned the BBC's documents. The Guardian wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them," however it did confirm Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran".
According to the BBC, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he [Khomeini] was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades."
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Return to Iran
Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time and since—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.
To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.
Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God."
As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"
Islamic constitution
While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran, but once in power, he advocated for the creation of theocracy based on the Velayat-e faqih. This led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: Establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing the previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for Velayat-e faqih; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's Motjaheds with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition ("as Khomeini's competitors in the religious hierarchy"); replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; neutralising or punishing top theologians that had conflicting ideas with Khomeini including Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi, and Hossein Ali Montazeri.
Opposition groups claimed that Khomeini's provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not first include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state.
Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic.
In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country.
Hostage crisis
On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution.
On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiments.Bowden, Mark, Guests of the Ayatollah, Atlantic Monthly Press, (2006)
In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan "America can't do a damn thing against us." The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "Great Satan" helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections." The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.
The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups – radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it.Example of anti-theocratic support for the hostage crisis in Nafisi, Azar, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Random House, 2003, p.105–106, 112 On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's Majlis would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a "Den of Espionage", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there.
Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries
Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the significantly more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."
"Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.
Iran–Iraq War
Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan, and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country.
In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.
Although Iran's population and economy were three times the size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north. However, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by the United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see Iran–Contra affair).
During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers) on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna— if they died in battle, and his pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile. By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left the country This included an estimated one and a half million that had fled Iran, victims of political executions, and the hundreds of thousands of "martyrs" from Khomeini's bloody "human wave " attacks on Iraq.
In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. Despite the high cost of the war – 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$300 billion – Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy" he wrote: "... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?"
Fatwa against chemical weapons
In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.
Rushdie fatwa
In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also the execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book.
Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of free speech and freedom of religion. The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of fiqh by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence."
Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam", the fatwa was not revoked.
Rushdie himself was not killed but Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the book The Satanic Verses, was murdered and two other translators of the book survived murder attempts.
Life under Khomeini
In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep.
Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned. The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities" carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979. The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).
According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam."
Women and child rights
Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ouster of Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about a woman head of state. However, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes. Khomeini revoked Iran's 1967 divorce law, considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid. Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of rape in Islamic law in which rape by a spouse was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "a woman must surrender to her husband for any pleasure".
A mere three weeks after assuming power, under the pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law. Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls; nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase.
Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as the highest form of criminal offense. Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety. Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam. Fatima was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman.
At the same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime.
Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women.
Homosexuality
Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on homosexuals. Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created the "Revolutionary Tribunals". According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth." According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of the nation by spreading the 'stain of wickedness.'" Transsexuality was designated by Khomeini as a sickness that was able to be cured through surgery. In 1979, he had declared that the execution of homosexuals (as well as prostitutes and adulterers) was reasonable in a moral civilization in the same sense as cutting off decayed skin.
Emigration and economy
Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".(Brumberg, Reinventing Khomeini (2001), p. 125) Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be found here: I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for [say] affordable housing. People [on the contrary] want everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy [...] Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human[ity] means- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes[...] Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being [truly] is. This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution." Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.
Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.
Suppression of opposition
In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom on 30 August 1979, Khomeini warned pro-imperialist opponents: "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer."
However, in 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped him by providing a list of Soviet KGB agents and collaborators operating in Iran to Khomeini, who then executed up to 200 suspects and closed down the Communist Tudeh Party of Iran. Available online here.
The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran and escaped harm, but hundreds of former members of the overthrown monarchy and military met their ends in firing squads, with exiled critics complaining of "secrecy, vagueness of the charges, the absence of defense lawyers or juries", or the opportunity of the accused "to defend themselves." In later years these were followed in larger numbers by the erstwhile revolutionary allies of Khomeini's movement—Marxists and socialists, mostly university students—who opposed the theocratic regime. Following the 1981 Hafte Tir bombing, Khomeini declared the Mojahedin and anyone violently opposed to the government, "enemies of God" and pursued a mass campaign against members of the Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Tudeh parties as well as their families, close friends, and even anyone who was accused of counterrevolutionary behavior.
In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be apostates from Islam (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, around 30,000 of them. Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.
Minority religions
Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except those of the Baháʼí Faith) be treated well. In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.
Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals. Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim. Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000. The Zoroastrian population has also decreased, due to suffering from renewed persecution and the revived legal contrasts between a Muslim and Zoroastrian, which mirrors the laws that Zoroastrians experienced under earlier Islamic regimes. The view that Zoroastrians are najis ("unclean") has also been renewed.
Four of the 270 seats in parliament were reserved for each three non-Muslim minority religions, under the Islamic constitution that Khomeini oversaw. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Sunni Muslims make up 9% of the entire Muslim population in Iran.
One non-Muslim group treated differently were the 300,000 members of the Baháʼí Faith. Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Baháʼí community by focusing on the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) and Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs); prominent members of NSAs and LSAs were often detained and even executed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities."
Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Baháʼí to be apostates. He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,
declaring:
Ethnic minorities
After the Shah left Iran in 1979, a Kurdish delegation traveled to Qom to present the Kurds' demands to Khomeini. Their demands included language rights and the provision for a degree of political autonomy. Khomeini responded that such demands were unacceptable since it involved the division of the Iranian nation. The following months saw numerous clashes between Kurdish militia groups and the Revolutionary Guards. The referendum on the Islamic Republic was massively boycotted in Kurdistan, where it was thought 85 to 90% of voters abstained. Khomeini ordered additional attacks later on in the year, and by September most of Iranian Kurdistan was under direct martial law.
Death and funeral
Khomeini's health declined several years prior to his death. After spending eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Ruhollah Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days, at the age of 89 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ali Khamenei. Large numbers of Iranians took to the streets to publicly mourn his death and in the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. At least 10 mourners were trampled to death, more than 400 were badly hurt and several thousand more were treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright, (1989), p. 204
According to Iran's official estimates, 10.2 million people lined the route to Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.
Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people. Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Behesht-e Zahra. Iranian officials postponed Khomeini's first funeral after a huge mob stormed the funeral procession, destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body or touch of his coffin. In some cases, armed soldiers were compelled to fire warning shots in the air to restrain the crowds. At one point, Khomeini's body fell to the ground, as the crowd ripped off pieces of the death shroud, trying to keep them as if they were holy relics. According to journalist James Buchan:
The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son Ahmad was buried next to him. Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.
Succession
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the Assembly of Experts in November 1985. The principle of velayat-e faqih and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a marja (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,Mackay, Iranians, (1998), p.353 or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor). The execution of Mehdi Hashemi in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities was a blow to Ayatollah Montazeri, who knew Hashemi since their childhood. In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini: "Your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK." After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him in March 1989 from his position as official successor. His portraits were removed from offices and mosques.
To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable marja, Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja and this allowed Ali Khamenei, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor.Mackey, SandraThe Iranians (1996), p. 353 Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.Leader Khamenei PBS
Anniversary
The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday. To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.
Political thought and legacy
According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there. Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja') would ensure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih), before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.
Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time. Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.
The Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb was an important source of influence to Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini honoured Qutb's "martyrdom" by issuing an iconic postage stamp showing him behind bars. Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution. Prominent figures such as current Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his brother Muhammad Ali Khamenei, Aḥmad Aram, Hadi Khosroshahi, etc. translated Qutb's works into Persian.
There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run Aftab News, both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so. Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.
One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic. Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.
Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni.
Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power. He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature. In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam," making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance." This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack. There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,for example the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing see:Hizb'allah in Lebanon: The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis Magnus Ranstorp, Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews St. Martins Press, New York, 1997, p.54, 117 and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth."
Many of Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution. However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals. This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:
Yes, we are reactionaries, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.
In contrast to his alienation from Iranian intellectuals, and "in an utter departure from all other Islamist movements," Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity." From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinistas to the African National Congress and the Irish Republican Army) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin."
Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the mustazafin (a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the mustazafin and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices, etc. Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys") is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.
In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.
However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operations as the entire European Union".
Appearance and habits
Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".
He was known for his punctuality:
Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him." His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."
Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p.383 He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.
Mystique
According to Baqer Moin, as part of Khomeini's personality cult, he "had been transformed into a semi-divine figure. He was no longer a grand ayatollah and deputy of the Imam, one who represents the Hidden Imam, but simply 'The Imam'." Khomeini's personality cult fills a central position in foreign- and domestically targeted Iranian publications. The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
An eight-century Hadith attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kazim that said "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path. There will rally to him people resembling pieces of iron, not to be shaken by violent winds, unsparing and relying on God" was repeated in Iran as a tribute to Khomeini. However, in Lebanon, this saying was also attributed to Musa al-Sadr.
Khomeini was the first and only Iranian cleric to be addressed as "Imam", a title hitherto reserved in Iran for the twelve infallible leaders of the early Shi'a. He was also associated with the Mahdi or 12th Imam of Shia belief in a number of ways. One of his titles was Na'eb-e Imam (Deputy to the Twelfth Imam). His enemies were often attacked as taghut and Mofsed-e-filarz, religious terms used for enemies of the Twelfth Imam. Many of the officials of the overthrown Shah's government executed by Revolutionary Courts were convicted of "fighting against the Twelfth Imam". When a deputy in the majlis asked Khomeini directly if he was the 'promised Mahdi', Khomeini did not answer, "astutely" neither confirming nor denying the title.
As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving." His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"
The Imam, it was generally believed, had shown by his uncanny sweep to power, that he knew how to act in ways which others could not begin to understand. His timing was extraordinary, and his insight into the motivation of others, those around him as well as his enemies, could not be explained as ordinary knowledge. This emergent belief in Khomeini as a divinely guided figure was carefully fostered by the clerics who supported him and spoke up for him in front of the people.
Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal. Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":
Another journalist tells the story of listening to bitter criticism of the regime by an Iranian who tells her of his wish for his son to leave the country and who "repeatedly" makes the point "that life had been better" under the Shah. When his complaint is interrupted by news that "the Imam" — over 85 years old at the time — might be dying, the critic becomes "ashen faced" and speechless, pronouncing "this is terrible for my country."
An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:
Family and descendants
In 1929, Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi, the daughter of a cleric in Tehran. Some sources claim that Khomeini married Saqafi when she was ten years old, while others claim she was fifteen years old. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy. She died in 2009. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK. Ahmad Khomeini, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime. Perhaps his "most prominent daughter", Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.
Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:
Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter, married to Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party in the country, and is considered a pro-reform character herself.
Hassan Khomeini, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini and also has shown support for the reform movement in Iran, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi's call to cancel the 2009 election results.
Husain Khomeini (Sayid Husain Khomeini), Khomeini's other grandson, son of Sayid Mustafa Khomeini, is a mid-level cleric who is strongly against the system of the Islamic Republic. In 2003, he was quoted as saying: "Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it." In that same year Husain Khomeini visited the United States, where he met figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah and the pretender to the Sun Throne. Later that year, Husain returned to Iran after receiving an urgent message from his grandmother. According to Michael Ledeen, quoting "family sources", he was blackmailed into returning. In 2006, he called for an American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic Republic, telling Al-Arabiyah television station viewers, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open].
Another of Khomeini's grandchildren, Ali Eshraghi, was disqualified from the 2008 parliamentary elections on grounds of being insufficiently loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution, but later reinstated.
Bibliography
Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.
His books include:
Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist)
The Little Green Book: A sort of manifesto of Khomeini's political thought
Forty Hadith (Forty Traditions)
Adab as Salat (The Disciplines of Prayers)
Jihade Akbar (The Greater Struggle)
Tahrir al-Wasilah Kashf al-AsrarSee also
Khomeinism
Political thought and legacy of Ruhollah Khomeini
Islamic Government (book by Khomeini)
Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order
Exiles of Imam Khomeini
Ideocracy
List of cults of personality
Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
Ruhollah Khomeini's residency (Jamaran)
1979 Iranian Revolution conspiracy theory
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Imam Khomeini's Official Website
Documentary: Imam Khomeini P1 (Free Press TV documentary)
Imam Khomeini – Reformer of the Century (English Subtitles – Press TV Documentary)
The New York Times article on Khomeini's poetry
Rouhollah Khomeini's Website
Who Is Imam Khomeini?
Selected bibliography
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – Islamic Government (Hukumat-i Islami)
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – The Last Will...
Books by and or about Rouhollah Khomeini
Letter by Ayatollah Khomeini to Mikhail Gorbachev, dated 1 January 1989. Kayhan''
Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic, 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
1900 births
1902 births
1989 deaths
Iranian Shia Muslims
20th-century imams
20th-century poets
Al-Moussawi family
Anti-Americanism
Anti-monarchists
Biographical evaluation scholars
Burials at Behesht-e Zahra
Commanders-in-Chief of Iran
Iran hostage crisis
Iranian anti-communists
Iranian emigrants to France
Iranian emigrants to Iraq
Iranian emigrants to Turkey
Iranian exiles
Iranian grand ayatollahs
Iranian Islamists
Iranian people of the Iran–Iraq War
Iranian poets
Iranian religious leaders
Iranian revolutionaries
Islamic philosophers
Pan-Islamism
People from Markazi Province
People of the Iranian Revolution
Religious policy in Iran
Shia scholars of Islam
Simple living advocates
Supreme Leaders of Iran
Time Person of the Year
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"Islam and Revolution () is a two volume set of writings by Ayatollah/Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, which contain a collection of his speeches and writings.\n\nIslam and Revolution I: Writings and Declarations \nThe first volume covers the years 1941 to 1980, and was compiled and translated from Persian by Hamid Algar. Pages 25 to 166 are devoted to Islamic Government (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih), Khomeini's treatise on how government should be run in accordance with traditional Islamic sharia, and that this will require a leading Islamic jurist (faqih) to provide political \"guardianship\" (wilayat or velayat) over the people. The book also contains Lectures on \"the Supreme Jihad\" and Surat al-Fatiha, and speeches and declarations.\n\nKhomeini's writings reflect a belief in a theocracy, in which the government should be dictated by Islam. He believes that outside \"imperialists\" ...regarded it necessary to work for the extirpation of Islam in order to attain their ultimate goals. He discusses how Iran's constitution was influenced by Belgian, French, and British legal codes in order to deceive the people and keep them from their Islamic faith. He contends that Islam has all the answers to society, economy, law, politics, and the metaphysical.\n\nKhomeini writes: There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm.\n\nIslam and Revolution II \nThe second volume containing writings from 1980 to 1989, the year of Khomeini's death, remains unpublished.\n\nReferences\n\nRuhollah Khomeini\nIranian Revolution",
"Velayat-e faqih (, velāyat-e faqīh), also known as Islamic Government (, Hokumat-i Eslami), is a book by the Iranian Muslim cleric, faqīh, and revolutionary Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, first published in 1970, and probably the most influential document written in modern times in support of theocratic rule.\n\nThe book argues that government should be run in accordance with traditional Islamic law (sharia), and for this to happen a leading Islamic jurist (faqih) must provide political \"guardianship\" (wilayat or velayat) over the people and nation.\nA modified form of this doctrine was incorporated into the 1979 Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran following the Iranian Revolution, with the doctrine's author, Ayatollah Khomeini, as the first faqih \"guardian\" or Supreme Leader of Iran.\n\nHistory\n\nWhile in exile in Iraq in the holy city of Najaf, Khomeini gave a series of 19 lectures to a group of his students from January 21 to February 8, 1970 on Islamic Government. Notes of the lectures were soon made into a book that appeared under three different titles: The Islamic Government, Authority of the Jurist, and A Letter from Imam Musavi Kashef al-Qita (to deceive Iranian censors). The small book (fewer than 150 pages) was smuggled into Iran and \"widely distributed\" to Khomeini supporters before the revolution.\n\nControversy surrounds how much of the book's success came from its religiosity, and how much from the political skill and power of its author, who is generally considered to have been the \"undisputed\" leader of the Iranian Revolution.\nMany observers of the revolution maintain that while the book was distributed to Khomeini's core supporters in Iran, Khomeini and his aides were careful not to publicize the book or the idea of wilayat al-faqih to outsiders, knowing that groups crucial to the revolution's success—secular and Islamic Modernist Iranians—were likely to be irreconcilably opposed to theocracy. It was only when Khomeini's core supporters had consolidated their hold on power that wilayat al-faqih was made known to the general public and written into the country's new Islamic constitution.\n\nThe book has been translated into several languages including French, Arabic, Turkish and Urdu. \nThe English translation most commonly found, considered by at least one source (Hamid Dabashi) to be the \"only reliable\" translation\", and approved by the Iranian government is that of Hamid Algar, an English-born convert to Islam, scholar of Iran and the Middle East, and supporter of Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution. It can be found in Algar's book Islam and Revolution, in a stand-alone edition published in Iran by the \"Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works\", which was also published by Alhoda UK, and is available online.\n\nThe one other English language edition of the book, also titled Islamic Government, is a stand-alone edition, translated by the U.S. government's Joint Publications Research Service. Algar considers this translation to be an inferior to his own—being \"crude\" and \"unreliable\" and based on Arabic translation rather than the original Persian—and claims its publication by Manor books is \"vulgar\" and \"sensational\" in its attacks on the Ayatollah Khomeini. (Whether the original language of the Islamic Government lectures was Persian or Arabic is disputed.)\n\nContents\n\nImportance of Islamic Government \nKhomeini believed that the need for governance of the faqih was obvious to good Muslims. That \"anyone who has some general awareness of the beliefs and ordinances of Islam\" would \"unhesitatingly give his assent to the principle of the governance of the faqih as soon as he encounters it,\" because the principle has \"little need of demonstration, for anyone who has some general awareness of the beliefs and ordinances of Islam ....\" (p. 27)\n\nNonetheless he lists several reasons why Islamic government is necessary:\n To prevent \"encroachment by oppressive ruling classes on the rights of the weak,\" and plundering and corrupting the people for the sake of \"pleasure and material interest,\" (p. 54)\n To prevent \"innovation\" in Islamic law \"and the approval of the anti-Islamic laws by sham parliaments,\" (p. 54) and so\n To preserve \"the Islamic order\" and keep all individuals on \"the just path of Islam without any deviation,\" (p. 54) \"it is because the just fuqaha have not had executive power in the land inhabited by Muslims ... that Islam has declined.\" (p. 80)\n And to destroy \"the influence of foreign powers in the Islamic lands\" (p. 54)\n\nKhomeini further believed that Islamic government was, in its operation, superior to non-Islamic government in many ways. Additionally, though Islamic government is to be universal, Khomeini sometimes compares it to (allegedly) un-Islamic governments in general throughout the Muslim world and more often contrasts it specifically with the Shah's government in Iran—though he doesn't mention the Shah by name.\n\nIn regard to non-Islamic governments, the work states \"Non-islamic government...\"\n is mired in red tape thanks to \"superfluous bureaucracies,\" (p. 58),\n suffers from \"reckless spending\", and \"constant embezzlement\", in the case of Iran, forcing it to \"request aid or a loan from\" abroad and hence \"to bow in submission before America and Britain\" (p. 58)\n has excessively harsh punishments (p. 33)\n creates an \"unjust economic order\" which divides the people \"into two groups: oppressors and oppressed\" (p. 49)\n though it may be made up of elected representatives does not \"truly belong to the people\" in the case of Muslim countries (p. 56)\n\nWhile some might think the complexity of the modern world would move Muslims to learn from countries that have modernized ahead of them, and even borrow laws from them, this is not only un-Islamic but also entirely unnecessary. The laws of God (Shariah), cover \"all human affairs ... There is not a single topic in human life for which Islam has not provided instruction and established a norm.\" (pp. 29-30, also p. 44) As a result, Islamic government will be much easier than some might think.\n\nThe entire system of government and administration, together with necessary laws, lies ready for you. If the administration of the country calls for taxes, Islam has made the necessary provision; and if laws are needed, Islam has established them all. ... Everything is ready and waiting. [pp. 137-8]\n\nFor this reason Khomeini declines \"to go into details\" on such things as \"how the penal provisions of the law are to be implemented\"(p. 124)\n\nIn addition to the functional reasons above offered for guardianship of the jurist, Khomeini also gives much space to doctrinal ones that he argues establish proof that the rule of jurists is required by Islam.\n\nNo sacred texts of Shia Islam specifically state that jurists should rule Muslims. Traditionally Shia Islam follows a crucial hadith where the Prophet Muhammad passes on his power to command Muslims to his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first of twelve \"Imams\" descended in a line that stopped with the occultation of the last Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, in 939 and who is not expected back until end times, (see: Muhammad al-Mahdi#Birth and early life according to Twelver Shi'a). Shia jurists have tended to stick to one of three approaches to the state: cooperated with it, try to influence policies by becoming active in politics, or most commonly, remaining aloof from it.\n\nKhomeini, however, endeavours to prove a leading jurist or jurists also have inherited the Prophet's political authority by explicating several ahadith of the Shi'a Imams. An example is his analysis of a saying attributed to the first Imam, 'Ali who in addressing a judge said:\n\nThe seat you are occupying is filled by someone who is a prophet, the legatee of a prophet, or else a sinful wretch. (p. 81)\n\nKhomeini reasons that the term judges must refer to trained jurists (fuqaha) as they are \"by definition learned in matters pertaining to the function of judge\" (p. 84), and since trained jurists are neither sinful wretches nor prophets, by process of elimination \"we deduce from the tradition quoted above that the fuqaha are the legatees.\" (p. 84) He explains legatees of the prophet have the same power to command Muslims as the Prophet Muhammad and (in Shia Muslim belief) the Imams. Thus, the saying, `The seat you are occupying is filled by someone who is a prophet, the legatee of a prophet, or else a sinful wretch,` demonstrates that Islamic jurists have the power to rule Muslims.\n\nThe level of importance accorded rule of jurists and obedience to them by Khomeini in Waliyat al-faqih is as high as any religious duty a Muslim has. \"Our obeying holders of authority\" like jurists \"is actually an expression of obedience to God.\" (p. 91) Preserving Islam \"is more necessary even than prayer and fasting\" (p. 75) and without Islamic government Islam cannot be preserved.\n\nWhat is Islamic Government? \nThe basis of Islamic government is exclusive adherence to Sharia, or Islamic law. Those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia (Islamic jurists are such people), and the country's ruler should be a faqih who \"surpasses all others in knowledge\" of Islamic law and justice (p. 59) -- known as a marja`—as well as having intelligence and administrative ability.\n\nAnd while this faqih rules, it might be said that the ruler is actually sharia law itself because, \"the law of Islam, divine command, has absolute authority over all individuals and the Islamic government. Everyone, including the Most Noble Messenger [Prophet Muhammad] and his successors, is subject to law and will remain so for all eternity ... \" (p. 56)\n\n\"The governance of the faqih\" is equivalent to \"the appointment of a guardian for a minor.\" Just as God established the Prophet Mohammad as the \"leader and ruler\" of early Muslims, \"making obedience to him obligatory, so, too, the fuqaha (plural of faqih) must be leaders and rulers\" over Muslims today. (p. 63) While the \"spiritual virtues\" and \"status\" of the Prophet and the Imams are greater than those of contemporary faqih, their power is not, because this virtue \"does not confer increased governmental powers\". (p. 62)\n\nIslamic government is constitutional, but \"not constitutional in the current sense of word, i.e., based on the approval of laws in accordance with the opinion of the majority.\" Instead of the customary executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, \"in an Islamic government, a simple planning body takes the place of the legislative assembly that is one of the three branches of government\"—a legislature being unnecessary because \"no one has the right to legislate ... except ... the Divine Legislator\" (p. 56).\n\nIslamic government raises revenue \"on the basis of the taxes that Islam has established - khums, zakat ... jizya, and kharaj.\" (p. 45) This will be plenty because \"khums is a huge source of income\" (pp. 44-5)\n\nIslamic Government will be just but it will also be unsparing with \"troublesome\" groups that cause \"corruption in Muslim society,\" and damage \"Islam and the Islamic state.\" In this regard it will follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad who eliminated the tribe heads of Bani Qurayza, (p. 89) (men of Bani Qurayza were executed and the women and children enslaved after the tribe collaborated with Muhammad's enemies and later refuse to convert to Islam)..\n\nIslamic government will follow the unflinching courage and rectitude of Imam 'Ali. His seat of command was simply the corner of a mosque (p. 86); he threatened to have the hand of his daughter cut off if she did not pay back a loan from the treasury (p. 130); and he \"lived more frugally than the most impoverished of our students.\" (p. 57) Islamic government will follow the \"victorious and triumphant\" armies of early Muslims who set \"out from the mosque to go into battle\" and \"fear only God,\" (p. 131) and follow the Quranic command \"Prepare against them whatever force you can muster and horses tethered\". In fact, \"if the form of government willed by Islam were to come into being, none of the governments now existing in the world would be able to resist it; they would all capitulate\" (p. 122)\n\nWhy has Islamic Government not been established?\nKhomeini spends a large part of his book explaining why Islamic government had not yet been established, despite the fact that the need for governance of the faqih is obvious to \"anyone who has some general awareness of the beliefs and ordinances of Islam.\" (p. 27)\n\nThe \"historical roots\" of the opposition are Western unbelievers who want\n\nto keep us backward, to keep us in our present miserable state so they can exploit our riches, our underground wealth, our lands and our human resources. They want us to remain afflicted and wretched, and our poor to be trapped in their misery ... they and their agents wish to go on living in huge palaces and enjoying lives of abominable luxury. (p.34)\n\nForeign experts have studied our country and have discovered all our mineral reserves -- gold, copper, petroleum, and so on. They have also made an assessment of our people's intelligence and come to the conclusion that the only barrier blocking their way are Islam and the religious leadership. (p.139-40)\n\nThese Westerners \"have known the power of Islam themselves for it once ruled part of Europe, and ... know that true Islam is opposed to their activities.\"(p. 140) Making people think that \"Islam has laid down no laws for the practice of usury, for banking on the basis of usury, for the consumption of alcohol, or for the cultivation of sexual vice\" and wishing \"to promote these vices in the Islamic world\", (p. 31-2) Westerns have set about deceiving Muslims, using their \"agents\" to telling them that \"that Islam consists of a few ordinances concerning menstruation and parturition.\" (p. 29-30)\n\nThe enemies of Islam target the vulnerable young: \"The agents of imperialism are busy in every corner of the Islamic world drawing our youth away from us with their evil propaganda.\" (p. 127)\n\nThis imperialist attack on Islam is not some ad hoc tactic to assist the imperial pursuit of power or profit, but an elaborate, 300-year-long plan.\n\nThe British imperialists penetrated the countries of the East more than 300 years ago. Being knowledgeable about all aspects of these countries, they drew up elaborate plans for assuming control of them. (p.139, also p.27-28, p.34, p.38). \n\nIn addition to the British there are the Jews:\n\nFrom the very beginning, the historical movement of Islam has had to contend with the Jews, for it was they who first established anti-Islamic propaganda and engaged in various stratagems, and as you can see, this activity continues down to the present. (p.27-8)\n\nWe must protest and make the people aware that the Jews and their foreign backers are opposed to the very foundations of Islam and wish to establish Jewish domination throughout the world. (p.127)\n\nWhile the main danger of unbelievers comes from foreign (European and American) imperialists, non-Muslims in Iran and other Muslim countries pose a danger too,\n\ncenters of evil propaganda run by the churches, the Zionists, and the Baha'is in order to lead our people astray and make them abandon the ordinances and teaching of Islam ...\nThese centers must be destroyed. (p.128) \n \t\nPerhaps most alarmingly, in Khomeini's view, the imperialist war against Islam has even penetrated the seminaries where, Khomeini noted disapprovingly, \"If someone wishes to speak about Islamic government and the establishment of the Islamic government, he must observe the principles of taqiyya, [i.e. dissimulation, the permission to lie when one's life is in danger or in defence of Islam], and count upon the opposition of those who have sold themselves to imperialism\" (p. 34) If these \"pseudo-saints do not wake up\" Khomeini hints darkly, \"we will adopt a different attitude toward them.\" (p. 143)\n\nAs for those clerics who serve the government, \"they do not need to be beaten much,\" but \"our youths must strip them of their turbans.\" (p. 145)\n\nInfluences\n\nIslamic \nKhomeini himself claims Mirza Hasan Shirazi, Mirza Muhammad Taqi Shriazi, Kashif al-Ghita, (p. 124) as clerics preceding him who made what were \"in effect\" (p. 124) government rulings, thus establishing de facto Islamic Government by Islamic jurists. Some credit \"earlier notions of political and juridical authority\" in Iran's Safavid period. Khomeini is said to have cited nineteenth-century Shi'i jurist Mulla Ahmad Naraqi (d. In1829) and Shaikh Muhammad Hussain Na'ini (d. 1936) as authorities who held a similar view to himself on the political role of the ulama. An older influence is \nAbu Nasr Al-Farabi, and his book, The Principles of the People of the Virtuous City, (al-madina[t] al-fadila, which has been called \"a Muslim version of Plato's Republic\").\n\nAnother influence is said to be Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, a cleric and author of books on developing Islamic alternatives to capitalism and socialism, who Khomeini met in Najaf.\n\nNon-Islamic\nOther observers credit the \"Islamic Left,\" specifically Ali Shariati, as the origin of important concepts of Khomeini's Waliyat al-faqih, particularly abolition of monarchy and the idea that an \"economic order\" has divided the people \"into two groups: oppressors and oppressed.\" (p. 49) The Confederation of Iranian Students in Exile and the famous pamphlet Gharbzadegi by the ex-Tudeh writer Jalal Al-e-Ahmad are also thought to have influence Khomeini. This is in spite of the fact that Khomeini loathed Marxism in general, and is said to have had misgivings about un-Islamic sources of some of Shariati's ideas.\n\nKhomeini claims that governments based on constitutions, divided into three branches, and containing planning agencies, also belie a strict adherence to precedents set by the rule of the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, 1400 years ago.\n\nScholar Vali Nasr believes the ideal of an Islamic government ruled by the ulama \"relied heavily\" on Greek philosopher Plato's book The Republic, and its vision of \"a specially educated `guardian` class led by a `philosopher-king`\".\n\nCriticism\n\nDoctrinal \nVelayat-e Faqih has been praised as a \"masterful construction of a relentless argument, supported by the most sacred canonical sources of Shi'i Islam ...\"\n\nThe response from high-level Shi'a clerics to Velayat-e Faqih was far more negative. Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qassim Khoei, the leading Shia ayatollah at the time the book was published rejected Khomeini's argument on the grounds that\n The authority of faqih — is limited to the guardianship of widows and orphans — could not be extended by human beings to the political sphere.\n In the absence of the Hidden Imam (the 12th and last Shi'a Imam), the authority of jurisprudence was not the preserve of one or a few fuqaha.\nOf the dozen Shia Grand Ayatollahs alive at the time of the Iranian Revolution, only one other grand ayatollah — Hussein-Ali Montazeri — approved of Khomeini's concept. He would later disavow it entirely in 1988.\n\nA Baháʼí scholar of Shia Islam, Moojan Momen, has commented that Khomeini cites two earlier clerical authorities — Mulla Ahmad Naraqi (d. 1829) and Shaikh Muhammad Hussain Na'ini (d. 1936) — as holding similar view to himself on the importance of the ulama holding political power, but neither made \"it the central theme of their political theory as Khomeini does,\" although they may have hinted \"at this in their writings.\" Momen also argues that the Hadith Khomeini quotes in support of his concept of velayat-e faqih, either have \"a potential ambiguity which makes the meaning controversial,\" or are considered `weak` (Da'if) by virtue of their chain of transmitters.\n\nWhen a campaign started to install velayat-e faqih in the new Iranian revolution, critics complained that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. This has sparked controversy.\n\nDespite having initially supported the Revolution, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah criticized what he saw as the Iranian clergy ruling with absolute power. Rather he wanted a system of checks and balances that would prevent the scholars from becoming dictators.\n\nIn a 2009 interview, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah of Lebanon (a supporter of the Iranian Revolution, \"widely seen as the 'godfather' \" of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and one of only three Shia Maraji of Lebanon before he died in 2010), stated \"without hesitation\"\n\nI don't believe that Welayat al-Faqih has any role in Lebanon. Perhaps some Lebanese commit themselves to the policy of the Guardian Jurist, as some of them commit themselves to the policy of the Vatican [Lebanon's large Maronite community is Catholic]. My opinion is that I don't see the Guardianship of the Jurist as the definitive Islamic regime.\n\nFunctional \nIslamic Government is criticised on utilitarian grounds by those who argue that Islamic government as established in Iran by Khomeini has simply not done what Khomeini said Islamic government by jurists would do. The goals of ending poverty, corruption, national debt, or compelling un-Islamic government to capitulate before the Islamic government's armies, have not been met. But even more modest and basic goals like downsizing the government bureaucracy, using only senior religious jurists or [marja]s for the post of faqih guardian/Supreme Leader, or implementing sharia law and protecting it from innovation, have not succeeded. While Khomeini promised, \"The entire system of government and administration, together with the necessary laws, lies ready for you.... Islam has established them all,\" (p. 137) once in power Islamists found many frustrations in their attempts to implement the sharia, complaining that there were \"many questions, laws and operational regulations ... that received no mention in the shari'a.\" Disputes within the Islamic Government compelled Khomeini himself to proclaim in January 1988 that the interests of the Islamic state outranked \"all secondary ordinances\" of Islam, even \"prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.\" The severe loss of prestige for the fuqaha (Islamic jurists) as a result of dissatisfaction with the application of clerical rule in Iran has been noted by many. \"In the early 1980s, clerics were generally treated with elaborate courtesy. Nowadays [in 2002], clerics are sometimes insulted by schoolchildren and taxi drivers and they quite often put on normal clothes when venturing outside Qom.\"\n\nSee also\nRule of sharia\nRuhollah Khomeini\nIranian Revolution\nGuardianship of the Islamic Jurists\nExposition of Forty Hadith\nThe Unveiling of Secrets\nRepublic (Plato)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources \n\n \n \n \n \n Demichelis, Marco, \"Governance\", in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol I, pp. 226–229.\n\nExternal links \nIslamic Government: Governance of the Jurist Ayatullah Ruhullah al-Musawi al-Khomeini - XKP |www.feedbooks.com [full text]\n GOVERNANCE OF THE JURIST. ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT IMAM KHOMEINI | The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works (International Affairs Department) [full text]\n Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist: Velayat-e Faqeeh [Original Version] \n \"Democracy? I meant theocracy\"\nWhat Happens When Islamists Take Power? The Case of Iran\n\n1970 non-fiction books\nRuhollah Khomeini\nShia literature\nPolitical science books\nIslamic theology books\nIranian Revolution\nPolitical manifestos\nIslamist works"
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"Ruhollah Khomeini",
"Islamic constitution",
"Why is the Islamic constitution important to Khomeini",
"the Shah announced the \"White Revolution\", a six-point programme of reform"
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C_2bf2b3d7e1cb48e1acfbc373119171b7_1
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What happened next?
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What happened after the Shah announced the "White Revolution"?
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Ruhollah Khomeini
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In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists (Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam"). Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Iranian Shia religious scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had allegedly violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August. Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 17 January 1979, the Shah left the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran 120 journalists accompanied him, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement--much discussed at the time and since--was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God." As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?" Although revolutionaries were now in charge and Khomeini was their leader, some opposition groups claim that several secular and religious groups were unaware of Khomeini's plan for Islamic government by wilayat al-faqih, which involved rule by a marja' Islamic cleric. They claim that this provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was clearly defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state. Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic. In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. CANNOTANSWER
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Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution.
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Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 19003 June 1989), also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the 1st Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.
Khomeini was born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.
Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Sharia) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of welayat-el faqih, the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution), was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to The New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution. Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence, and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture". In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt. Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan." Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners, war criminals and prisoners of the Iran–Iraq War).
He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity", a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars, who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy. Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others. In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents, and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. A cult of personality developed around Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution.
Early years
Background
Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur, Khorasan Province, in northeastern part of Iran, for a short stay, to the Kingdom of Awadh, a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters. The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, near Lucknow, the capital of Awadh. Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor. He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India. In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein. Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals. Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the Tobacco Protest.
Childhood
According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902, the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustapha Musavi, over two years after his birth in 1903.
Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far, and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.
Education and lecturing
After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi. In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh), but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini. However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi, and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.
Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic, and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.
Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant, The Decanter of Love and Turning Point, and Divan. His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."
Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics. He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.
Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on irfan and Mulla Sadra to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, Sharh Du'a al-Sahar (Commentary on the Du'a al-Baha), "a detailed commentary, in Arabic, on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq", followed, some years later, by Sirr al-Salat (Secret of the Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of Ibn 'Arabi. As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of Sirr al-Salat, has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among the spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by BRILL in 2015, under the title "The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics ".
Political aspects
His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book, Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering of Secrets) published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hezar sale (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi, as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones, and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja''' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.
Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as Sheikh Fazlollah Noori and Abol-Ghasem Kashani. Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as a "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution.
Early political activity
Background
Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama, and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.
At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following the deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent, Shi'ah religious leader; and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power. Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah, instituted a "White Revolution", which was a further challenge to the Ulama.
Opposition to the White Revolution
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both the Shah and his reform plan. Two days later, the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class.
Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Shia religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and the deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini remained under house arrest until August.
Opposition to capitulation
On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran.Shirley, Know Thine Enemy (1997), p. 207. What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law, was in fact a "status-of-forces agreement", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to the Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam, a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder.
Life in exile
Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence. In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château, a suburb of Paris, France, on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978.According to Alexandre de Marenches, chief of External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (now known as the DGSE), the Shah did not ask France to expel Khomeini for fear that the cleric should move to Syria or Libya. (source: Christine Ockrent et Alexandre de Marenches, Dans le secret des princes, Stock, 1986, , p. 254) [Donate book to Archive.org]
By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906–07 – as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih).
This was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (Sharia), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
Since Shariah, or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia. Since Islamic jurists or faqih have studied and are the most knowledgeable in Sharia, the country's ruler should be a faqih who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, (known as a marja'), as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) has been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam.
This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice, corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or "Supreme Leader". In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. In Iran, a number of actions of the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime.
Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.
After the 1977 death of Ali Shariati (an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author/academic/philosopher who greatly assisted the Islamic revival among young educated Iranians), Khomeini became the most influential leader of the opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and the event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. He was perceived by many Iranians as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. Additionally, the episode with Khomeini's face in the moon showed that in late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran.
As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian Ervand Abrahamian described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing the general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest.
Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the People's Mujahedin of Iran during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah.
Khomeini's contact with the US
According to the BBC, Khomeini's contact with the US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to the US."
According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent a message to the United States Government through [Tehran University professor] Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed "that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence".
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including Ebrahim Yazdi (Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution) have questioned the BBC's documents. The Guardian wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them," however it did confirm Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran".
According to the BBC, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he [Khomeini] was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades."
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Return to Iran
Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time and since—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.
To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.
Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God."
As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"
Islamic constitution
While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran, but once in power, he advocated for the creation of theocracy based on the Velayat-e faqih. This led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: Establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing the previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for Velayat-e faqih; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's Motjaheds with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition ("as Khomeini's competitors in the religious hierarchy"); replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; neutralising or punishing top theologians that had conflicting ideas with Khomeini including Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi, and Hossein Ali Montazeri.
Opposition groups claimed that Khomeini's provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not first include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state.
Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic.
In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country.
Hostage crisis
On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution.
On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiments.Bowden, Mark, Guests of the Ayatollah, Atlantic Monthly Press, (2006)
In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan "America can't do a damn thing against us." The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "Great Satan" helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections." The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.
The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups – radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it.Example of anti-theocratic support for the hostage crisis in Nafisi, Azar, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Random House, 2003, p.105–106, 112 On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's Majlis would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a "Den of Espionage", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there.
Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries
Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the significantly more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."
"Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.
Iran–Iraq War
Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan, and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country.
In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.
Although Iran's population and economy were three times the size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north. However, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by the United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see Iran–Contra affair).
During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers) on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna— if they died in battle, and his pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile. By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left the country This included an estimated one and a half million that had fled Iran, victims of political executions, and the hundreds of thousands of "martyrs" from Khomeini's bloody "human wave " attacks on Iraq.
In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. Despite the high cost of the war – 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$300 billion – Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy" he wrote: "... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?"
Fatwa against chemical weapons
In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.
Rushdie fatwa
In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also the execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book.
Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of free speech and freedom of religion. The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of fiqh by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence."
Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam", the fatwa was not revoked.
Rushdie himself was not killed but Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the book The Satanic Verses, was murdered and two other translators of the book survived murder attempts.
Life under Khomeini
In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep.
Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned. The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities" carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979. The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).
According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam."
Women and child rights
Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ouster of Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about a woman head of state. However, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes. Khomeini revoked Iran's 1967 divorce law, considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid. Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of rape in Islamic law in which rape by a spouse was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "a woman must surrender to her husband for any pleasure".
A mere three weeks after assuming power, under the pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law. Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls; nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase.
Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as the highest form of criminal offense. Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety. Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam. Fatima was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman.
At the same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime.
Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women.
Homosexuality
Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on homosexuals. Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created the "Revolutionary Tribunals". According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth." According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of the nation by spreading the 'stain of wickedness.'" Transsexuality was designated by Khomeini as a sickness that was able to be cured through surgery. In 1979, he had declared that the execution of homosexuals (as well as prostitutes and adulterers) was reasonable in a moral civilization in the same sense as cutting off decayed skin.
Emigration and economy
Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".(Brumberg, Reinventing Khomeini (2001), p. 125) Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be found here: I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for [say] affordable housing. People [on the contrary] want everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy [...] Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human[ity] means- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes[...] Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being [truly] is. This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution." Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.
Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.
Suppression of opposition
In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom on 30 August 1979, Khomeini warned pro-imperialist opponents: "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer."
However, in 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped him by providing a list of Soviet KGB agents and collaborators operating in Iran to Khomeini, who then executed up to 200 suspects and closed down the Communist Tudeh Party of Iran. Available online here.
The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran and escaped harm, but hundreds of former members of the overthrown monarchy and military met their ends in firing squads, with exiled critics complaining of "secrecy, vagueness of the charges, the absence of defense lawyers or juries", or the opportunity of the accused "to defend themselves." In later years these were followed in larger numbers by the erstwhile revolutionary allies of Khomeini's movement—Marxists and socialists, mostly university students—who opposed the theocratic regime. Following the 1981 Hafte Tir bombing, Khomeini declared the Mojahedin and anyone violently opposed to the government, "enemies of God" and pursued a mass campaign against members of the Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Tudeh parties as well as their families, close friends, and even anyone who was accused of counterrevolutionary behavior.
In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be apostates from Islam (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, around 30,000 of them. Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.
Minority religions
Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except those of the Baháʼí Faith) be treated well. In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.
Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals. Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim. Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000. The Zoroastrian population has also decreased, due to suffering from renewed persecution and the revived legal contrasts between a Muslim and Zoroastrian, which mirrors the laws that Zoroastrians experienced under earlier Islamic regimes. The view that Zoroastrians are najis ("unclean") has also been renewed.
Four of the 270 seats in parliament were reserved for each three non-Muslim minority religions, under the Islamic constitution that Khomeini oversaw. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Sunni Muslims make up 9% of the entire Muslim population in Iran.
One non-Muslim group treated differently were the 300,000 members of the Baháʼí Faith. Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Baháʼí community by focusing on the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) and Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs); prominent members of NSAs and LSAs were often detained and even executed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities."
Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Baháʼí to be apostates. He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,
declaring:
Ethnic minorities
After the Shah left Iran in 1979, a Kurdish delegation traveled to Qom to present the Kurds' demands to Khomeini. Their demands included language rights and the provision for a degree of political autonomy. Khomeini responded that such demands were unacceptable since it involved the division of the Iranian nation. The following months saw numerous clashes between Kurdish militia groups and the Revolutionary Guards. The referendum on the Islamic Republic was massively boycotted in Kurdistan, where it was thought 85 to 90% of voters abstained. Khomeini ordered additional attacks later on in the year, and by September most of Iranian Kurdistan was under direct martial law.
Death and funeral
Khomeini's health declined several years prior to his death. After spending eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Ruhollah Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days, at the age of 89 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ali Khamenei. Large numbers of Iranians took to the streets to publicly mourn his death and in the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. At least 10 mourners were trampled to death, more than 400 were badly hurt and several thousand more were treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright, (1989), p. 204
According to Iran's official estimates, 10.2 million people lined the route to Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.
Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people. Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Behesht-e Zahra. Iranian officials postponed Khomeini's first funeral after a huge mob stormed the funeral procession, destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body or touch of his coffin. In some cases, armed soldiers were compelled to fire warning shots in the air to restrain the crowds. At one point, Khomeini's body fell to the ground, as the crowd ripped off pieces of the death shroud, trying to keep them as if they were holy relics. According to journalist James Buchan:
The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son Ahmad was buried next to him. Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.
Succession
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the Assembly of Experts in November 1985. The principle of velayat-e faqih and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a marja (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,Mackay, Iranians, (1998), p.353 or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor). The execution of Mehdi Hashemi in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities was a blow to Ayatollah Montazeri, who knew Hashemi since their childhood. In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini: "Your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK." After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him in March 1989 from his position as official successor. His portraits were removed from offices and mosques.
To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable marja, Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja and this allowed Ali Khamenei, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor.Mackey, SandraThe Iranians (1996), p. 353 Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.Leader Khamenei PBS
Anniversary
The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday. To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.
Political thought and legacy
According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there. Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja') would ensure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih), before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.
Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time. Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.
The Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb was an important source of influence to Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini honoured Qutb's "martyrdom" by issuing an iconic postage stamp showing him behind bars. Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution. Prominent figures such as current Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his brother Muhammad Ali Khamenei, Aḥmad Aram, Hadi Khosroshahi, etc. translated Qutb's works into Persian.
There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run Aftab News, both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so. Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.
One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic. Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.
Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni.
Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power. He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature. In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam," making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance." This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack. There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,for example the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing see:Hizb'allah in Lebanon: The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis Magnus Ranstorp, Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews St. Martins Press, New York, 1997, p.54, 117 and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth."
Many of Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution. However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals. This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:
Yes, we are reactionaries, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.
In contrast to his alienation from Iranian intellectuals, and "in an utter departure from all other Islamist movements," Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity." From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinistas to the African National Congress and the Irish Republican Army) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin."
Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the mustazafin (a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the mustazafin and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices, etc. Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys") is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.
In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.
However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operations as the entire European Union".
Appearance and habits
Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".
He was known for his punctuality:
Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him." His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."
Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p.383 He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.
Mystique
According to Baqer Moin, as part of Khomeini's personality cult, he "had been transformed into a semi-divine figure. He was no longer a grand ayatollah and deputy of the Imam, one who represents the Hidden Imam, but simply 'The Imam'." Khomeini's personality cult fills a central position in foreign- and domestically targeted Iranian publications. The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
An eight-century Hadith attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kazim that said "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path. There will rally to him people resembling pieces of iron, not to be shaken by violent winds, unsparing and relying on God" was repeated in Iran as a tribute to Khomeini. However, in Lebanon, this saying was also attributed to Musa al-Sadr.
Khomeini was the first and only Iranian cleric to be addressed as "Imam", a title hitherto reserved in Iran for the twelve infallible leaders of the early Shi'a. He was also associated with the Mahdi or 12th Imam of Shia belief in a number of ways. One of his titles was Na'eb-e Imam (Deputy to the Twelfth Imam). His enemies were often attacked as taghut and Mofsed-e-filarz, religious terms used for enemies of the Twelfth Imam. Many of the officials of the overthrown Shah's government executed by Revolutionary Courts were convicted of "fighting against the Twelfth Imam". When a deputy in the majlis asked Khomeini directly if he was the 'promised Mahdi', Khomeini did not answer, "astutely" neither confirming nor denying the title.
As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving." His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"
The Imam, it was generally believed, had shown by his uncanny sweep to power, that he knew how to act in ways which others could not begin to understand. His timing was extraordinary, and his insight into the motivation of others, those around him as well as his enemies, could not be explained as ordinary knowledge. This emergent belief in Khomeini as a divinely guided figure was carefully fostered by the clerics who supported him and spoke up for him in front of the people.
Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal. Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":
Another journalist tells the story of listening to bitter criticism of the regime by an Iranian who tells her of his wish for his son to leave the country and who "repeatedly" makes the point "that life had been better" under the Shah. When his complaint is interrupted by news that "the Imam" — over 85 years old at the time — might be dying, the critic becomes "ashen faced" and speechless, pronouncing "this is terrible for my country."
An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:
Family and descendants
In 1929, Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi, the daughter of a cleric in Tehran. Some sources claim that Khomeini married Saqafi when she was ten years old, while others claim she was fifteen years old. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy. She died in 2009. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK. Ahmad Khomeini, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime. Perhaps his "most prominent daughter", Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.
Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:
Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter, married to Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party in the country, and is considered a pro-reform character herself.
Hassan Khomeini, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini and also has shown support for the reform movement in Iran, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi's call to cancel the 2009 election results.
Husain Khomeini (Sayid Husain Khomeini), Khomeini's other grandson, son of Sayid Mustafa Khomeini, is a mid-level cleric who is strongly against the system of the Islamic Republic. In 2003, he was quoted as saying: "Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it." In that same year Husain Khomeini visited the United States, where he met figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah and the pretender to the Sun Throne. Later that year, Husain returned to Iran after receiving an urgent message from his grandmother. According to Michael Ledeen, quoting "family sources", he was blackmailed into returning. In 2006, he called for an American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic Republic, telling Al-Arabiyah television station viewers, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open].
Another of Khomeini's grandchildren, Ali Eshraghi, was disqualified from the 2008 parliamentary elections on grounds of being insufficiently loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution, but later reinstated.
Bibliography
Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.
His books include:
Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist)
The Little Green Book: A sort of manifesto of Khomeini's political thought
Forty Hadith (Forty Traditions)
Adab as Salat (The Disciplines of Prayers)
Jihade Akbar (The Greater Struggle)
Tahrir al-Wasilah Kashf al-AsrarSee also
Khomeinism
Political thought and legacy of Ruhollah Khomeini
Islamic Government (book by Khomeini)
Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order
Exiles of Imam Khomeini
Ideocracy
List of cults of personality
Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
Ruhollah Khomeini's residency (Jamaran)
1979 Iranian Revolution conspiracy theory
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Imam Khomeini's Official Website
Documentary: Imam Khomeini P1 (Free Press TV documentary)
Imam Khomeini – Reformer of the Century (English Subtitles – Press TV Documentary)
The New York Times article on Khomeini's poetry
Rouhollah Khomeini's Website
Who Is Imam Khomeini?
Selected bibliography
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – Islamic Government (Hukumat-i Islami)
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – The Last Will...
Books by and or about Rouhollah Khomeini
Letter by Ayatollah Khomeini to Mikhail Gorbachev, dated 1 January 1989. Kayhan''
Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic, 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
1900 births
1902 births
1989 deaths
Iranian Shia Muslims
20th-century imams
20th-century poets
Al-Moussawi family
Anti-Americanism
Anti-monarchists
Biographical evaluation scholars
Burials at Behesht-e Zahra
Commanders-in-Chief of Iran
Iran hostage crisis
Iranian anti-communists
Iranian emigrants to France
Iranian emigrants to Iraq
Iranian emigrants to Turkey
Iranian exiles
Iranian grand ayatollahs
Iranian Islamists
Iranian people of the Iran–Iraq War
Iranian poets
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Iranian revolutionaries
Islamic philosophers
Pan-Islamism
People from Markazi Province
People of the Iranian Revolution
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Shia scholars of Islam
Simple living advocates
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Time Person of the Year
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"What Happens Next may refer to:\n\n What Happens Next? (film), 2012 documentary film about Dan Mangan\nWhat Happens Next? (band), American thrashcore band\n What Happens Next (Gang of Four album), 2015\nWhat Happens Next (Joe Satriani album), 2018\nWhat Happens Next (What Happened Then?), a 1984 album by American hardcore punk band Ill Repute\n\nOther uses\n What Happens Next?: A History of Hollywood Screenwriting, a book by Marc Norman\n\nSee also\n What Comes Next (disambiguation)",
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[
"Ruhollah Khomeini",
"Islamic constitution",
"Why is the Islamic constitution important to Khomeini",
"the Shah announced the \"White Revolution\", a six-point programme of reform",
"What happened next?",
"Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution."
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C_2bf2b3d7e1cb48e1acfbc373119171b7_1
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What year did this happen?
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What year did Ayatollah Khomeini summon a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuade them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution?
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Ruhollah Khomeini
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In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists (Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam"). Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Iranian Shia religious scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had allegedly violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August. Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 17 January 1979, the Shah left the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran 120 journalists accompanied him, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement--much discussed at the time and since--was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God." As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?" Although revolutionaries were now in charge and Khomeini was their leader, some opposition groups claim that several secular and religious groups were unaware of Khomeini's plan for Islamic government by wilayat al-faqih, which involved rule by a marja' Islamic cleric. They claim that this provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was clearly defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state. Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic. In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. CANNOTANSWER
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On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans.
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Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 19003 June 1989), also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the 1st Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.
Khomeini was born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.
Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Sharia) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of welayat-el faqih, the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution), was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to The New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution. Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence, and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture". In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt. Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan." Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners, war criminals and prisoners of the Iran–Iraq War).
He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity", a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars, who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy. Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others. In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents, and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. A cult of personality developed around Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution.
Early years
Background
Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur, Khorasan Province, in northeastern part of Iran, for a short stay, to the Kingdom of Awadh, a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters. The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, near Lucknow, the capital of Awadh. Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor. He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India. In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein. Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals. Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the Tobacco Protest.
Childhood
According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902, the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustapha Musavi, over two years after his birth in 1903.
Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far, and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.
Education and lecturing
After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi. In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh), but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini. However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi, and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.
Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic, and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.
Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant, The Decanter of Love and Turning Point, and Divan. His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."
Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics. He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.
Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on irfan and Mulla Sadra to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, Sharh Du'a al-Sahar (Commentary on the Du'a al-Baha), "a detailed commentary, in Arabic, on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq", followed, some years later, by Sirr al-Salat (Secret of the Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of Ibn 'Arabi. As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of Sirr al-Salat, has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among the spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by BRILL in 2015, under the title "The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics ".
Political aspects
His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book, Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering of Secrets) published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hezar sale (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi, as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones, and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja''' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.
Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as Sheikh Fazlollah Noori and Abol-Ghasem Kashani. Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as a "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution.
Early political activity
Background
Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama, and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.
At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following the deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent, Shi'ah religious leader; and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power. Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah, instituted a "White Revolution", which was a further challenge to the Ulama.
Opposition to the White Revolution
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both the Shah and his reform plan. Two days later, the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class.
Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Shia religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and the deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini remained under house arrest until August.
Opposition to capitulation
On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran.Shirley, Know Thine Enemy (1997), p. 207. What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law, was in fact a "status-of-forces agreement", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to the Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam, a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder.
Life in exile
Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence. In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château, a suburb of Paris, France, on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978.According to Alexandre de Marenches, chief of External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (now known as the DGSE), the Shah did not ask France to expel Khomeini for fear that the cleric should move to Syria or Libya. (source: Christine Ockrent et Alexandre de Marenches, Dans le secret des princes, Stock, 1986, , p. 254) [Donate book to Archive.org]
By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906–07 – as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih).
This was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (Sharia), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
Since Shariah, or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia. Since Islamic jurists or faqih have studied and are the most knowledgeable in Sharia, the country's ruler should be a faqih who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, (known as a marja'), as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) has been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam.
This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice, corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or "Supreme Leader". In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. In Iran, a number of actions of the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime.
Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.
After the 1977 death of Ali Shariati (an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author/academic/philosopher who greatly assisted the Islamic revival among young educated Iranians), Khomeini became the most influential leader of the opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and the event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. He was perceived by many Iranians as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. Additionally, the episode with Khomeini's face in the moon showed that in late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran.
As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian Ervand Abrahamian described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing the general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest.
Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the People's Mujahedin of Iran during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah.
Khomeini's contact with the US
According to the BBC, Khomeini's contact with the US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to the US."
According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent a message to the United States Government through [Tehran University professor] Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed "that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence".
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including Ebrahim Yazdi (Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution) have questioned the BBC's documents. The Guardian wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them," however it did confirm Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran".
According to the BBC, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he [Khomeini] was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades."
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Return to Iran
Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time and since—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.
To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.
Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God."
As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"
Islamic constitution
While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran, but once in power, he advocated for the creation of theocracy based on the Velayat-e faqih. This led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: Establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing the previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for Velayat-e faqih; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's Motjaheds with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition ("as Khomeini's competitors in the religious hierarchy"); replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; neutralising or punishing top theologians that had conflicting ideas with Khomeini including Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi, and Hossein Ali Montazeri.
Opposition groups claimed that Khomeini's provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not first include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state.
Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic.
In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country.
Hostage crisis
On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution.
On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiments.Bowden, Mark, Guests of the Ayatollah, Atlantic Monthly Press, (2006)
In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan "America can't do a damn thing against us." The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "Great Satan" helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections." The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.
The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups – radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it.Example of anti-theocratic support for the hostage crisis in Nafisi, Azar, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Random House, 2003, p.105–106, 112 On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's Majlis would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a "Den of Espionage", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there.
Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries
Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the significantly more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."
"Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.
Iran–Iraq War
Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan, and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country.
In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.
Although Iran's population and economy were three times the size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north. However, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by the United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see Iran–Contra affair).
During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers) on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna— if they died in battle, and his pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile. By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left the country This included an estimated one and a half million that had fled Iran, victims of political executions, and the hundreds of thousands of "martyrs" from Khomeini's bloody "human wave " attacks on Iraq.
In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. Despite the high cost of the war – 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$300 billion – Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy" he wrote: "... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?"
Fatwa against chemical weapons
In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.
Rushdie fatwa
In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also the execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book.
Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of free speech and freedom of religion. The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of fiqh by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence."
Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam", the fatwa was not revoked.
Rushdie himself was not killed but Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the book The Satanic Verses, was murdered and two other translators of the book survived murder attempts.
Life under Khomeini
In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep.
Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned. The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities" carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979. The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).
According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam."
Women and child rights
Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ouster of Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about a woman head of state. However, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes. Khomeini revoked Iran's 1967 divorce law, considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid. Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of rape in Islamic law in which rape by a spouse was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "a woman must surrender to her husband for any pleasure".
A mere three weeks after assuming power, under the pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law. Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls; nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase.
Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as the highest form of criminal offense. Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety. Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam. Fatima was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman.
At the same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime.
Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women.
Homosexuality
Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on homosexuals. Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created the "Revolutionary Tribunals". According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth." According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of the nation by spreading the 'stain of wickedness.'" Transsexuality was designated by Khomeini as a sickness that was able to be cured through surgery. In 1979, he had declared that the execution of homosexuals (as well as prostitutes and adulterers) was reasonable in a moral civilization in the same sense as cutting off decayed skin.
Emigration and economy
Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".(Brumberg, Reinventing Khomeini (2001), p. 125) Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be found here: I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for [say] affordable housing. People [on the contrary] want everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy [...] Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human[ity] means- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes[...] Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being [truly] is. This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution." Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.
Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.
Suppression of opposition
In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom on 30 August 1979, Khomeini warned pro-imperialist opponents: "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer."
However, in 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped him by providing a list of Soviet KGB agents and collaborators operating in Iran to Khomeini, who then executed up to 200 suspects and closed down the Communist Tudeh Party of Iran. Available online here.
The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran and escaped harm, but hundreds of former members of the overthrown monarchy and military met their ends in firing squads, with exiled critics complaining of "secrecy, vagueness of the charges, the absence of defense lawyers or juries", or the opportunity of the accused "to defend themselves." In later years these were followed in larger numbers by the erstwhile revolutionary allies of Khomeini's movement—Marxists and socialists, mostly university students—who opposed the theocratic regime. Following the 1981 Hafte Tir bombing, Khomeini declared the Mojahedin and anyone violently opposed to the government, "enemies of God" and pursued a mass campaign against members of the Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Tudeh parties as well as their families, close friends, and even anyone who was accused of counterrevolutionary behavior.
In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be apostates from Islam (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, around 30,000 of them. Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.
Minority religions
Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except those of the Baháʼí Faith) be treated well. In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.
Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals. Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim. Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000. The Zoroastrian population has also decreased, due to suffering from renewed persecution and the revived legal contrasts between a Muslim and Zoroastrian, which mirrors the laws that Zoroastrians experienced under earlier Islamic regimes. The view that Zoroastrians are najis ("unclean") has also been renewed.
Four of the 270 seats in parliament were reserved for each three non-Muslim minority religions, under the Islamic constitution that Khomeini oversaw. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Sunni Muslims make up 9% of the entire Muslim population in Iran.
One non-Muslim group treated differently were the 300,000 members of the Baháʼí Faith. Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Baháʼí community by focusing on the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) and Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs); prominent members of NSAs and LSAs were often detained and even executed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities."
Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Baháʼí to be apostates. He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,
declaring:
Ethnic minorities
After the Shah left Iran in 1979, a Kurdish delegation traveled to Qom to present the Kurds' demands to Khomeini. Their demands included language rights and the provision for a degree of political autonomy. Khomeini responded that such demands were unacceptable since it involved the division of the Iranian nation. The following months saw numerous clashes between Kurdish militia groups and the Revolutionary Guards. The referendum on the Islamic Republic was massively boycotted in Kurdistan, where it was thought 85 to 90% of voters abstained. Khomeini ordered additional attacks later on in the year, and by September most of Iranian Kurdistan was under direct martial law.
Death and funeral
Khomeini's health declined several years prior to his death. After spending eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Ruhollah Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days, at the age of 89 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ali Khamenei. Large numbers of Iranians took to the streets to publicly mourn his death and in the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. At least 10 mourners were trampled to death, more than 400 were badly hurt and several thousand more were treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright, (1989), p. 204
According to Iran's official estimates, 10.2 million people lined the route to Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.
Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people. Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Behesht-e Zahra. Iranian officials postponed Khomeini's first funeral after a huge mob stormed the funeral procession, destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body or touch of his coffin. In some cases, armed soldiers were compelled to fire warning shots in the air to restrain the crowds. At one point, Khomeini's body fell to the ground, as the crowd ripped off pieces of the death shroud, trying to keep them as if they were holy relics. According to journalist James Buchan:
The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son Ahmad was buried next to him. Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.
Succession
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the Assembly of Experts in November 1985. The principle of velayat-e faqih and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a marja (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,Mackay, Iranians, (1998), p.353 or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor). The execution of Mehdi Hashemi in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities was a blow to Ayatollah Montazeri, who knew Hashemi since their childhood. In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini: "Your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK." After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him in March 1989 from his position as official successor. His portraits were removed from offices and mosques.
To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable marja, Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja and this allowed Ali Khamenei, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor.Mackey, SandraThe Iranians (1996), p. 353 Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.Leader Khamenei PBS
Anniversary
The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday. To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.
Political thought and legacy
According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there. Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja') would ensure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih), before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.
Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time. Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.
The Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb was an important source of influence to Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini honoured Qutb's "martyrdom" by issuing an iconic postage stamp showing him behind bars. Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution. Prominent figures such as current Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his brother Muhammad Ali Khamenei, Aḥmad Aram, Hadi Khosroshahi, etc. translated Qutb's works into Persian.
There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run Aftab News, both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so. Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.
One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic. Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.
Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni.
Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power. He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature. In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam," making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance." This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack. There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,for example the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing see:Hizb'allah in Lebanon: The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis Magnus Ranstorp, Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews St. Martins Press, New York, 1997, p.54, 117 and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth."
Many of Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution. However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals. This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:
Yes, we are reactionaries, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.
In contrast to his alienation from Iranian intellectuals, and "in an utter departure from all other Islamist movements," Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity." From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinistas to the African National Congress and the Irish Republican Army) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin."
Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the mustazafin (a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the mustazafin and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices, etc. Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys") is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.
In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.
However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operations as the entire European Union".
Appearance and habits
Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".
He was known for his punctuality:
Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him." His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."
Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p.383 He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.
Mystique
According to Baqer Moin, as part of Khomeini's personality cult, he "had been transformed into a semi-divine figure. He was no longer a grand ayatollah and deputy of the Imam, one who represents the Hidden Imam, but simply 'The Imam'." Khomeini's personality cult fills a central position in foreign- and domestically targeted Iranian publications. The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
An eight-century Hadith attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kazim that said "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path. There will rally to him people resembling pieces of iron, not to be shaken by violent winds, unsparing and relying on God" was repeated in Iran as a tribute to Khomeini. However, in Lebanon, this saying was also attributed to Musa al-Sadr.
Khomeini was the first and only Iranian cleric to be addressed as "Imam", a title hitherto reserved in Iran for the twelve infallible leaders of the early Shi'a. He was also associated with the Mahdi or 12th Imam of Shia belief in a number of ways. One of his titles was Na'eb-e Imam (Deputy to the Twelfth Imam). His enemies were often attacked as taghut and Mofsed-e-filarz, religious terms used for enemies of the Twelfth Imam. Many of the officials of the overthrown Shah's government executed by Revolutionary Courts were convicted of "fighting against the Twelfth Imam". When a deputy in the majlis asked Khomeini directly if he was the 'promised Mahdi', Khomeini did not answer, "astutely" neither confirming nor denying the title.
As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving." His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"
The Imam, it was generally believed, had shown by his uncanny sweep to power, that he knew how to act in ways which others could not begin to understand. His timing was extraordinary, and his insight into the motivation of others, those around him as well as his enemies, could not be explained as ordinary knowledge. This emergent belief in Khomeini as a divinely guided figure was carefully fostered by the clerics who supported him and spoke up for him in front of the people.
Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal. Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":
Another journalist tells the story of listening to bitter criticism of the regime by an Iranian who tells her of his wish for his son to leave the country and who "repeatedly" makes the point "that life had been better" under the Shah. When his complaint is interrupted by news that "the Imam" — over 85 years old at the time — might be dying, the critic becomes "ashen faced" and speechless, pronouncing "this is terrible for my country."
An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:
Family and descendants
In 1929, Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi, the daughter of a cleric in Tehran. Some sources claim that Khomeini married Saqafi when she was ten years old, while others claim she was fifteen years old. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy. She died in 2009. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK. Ahmad Khomeini, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime. Perhaps his "most prominent daughter", Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.
Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:
Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter, married to Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party in the country, and is considered a pro-reform character herself.
Hassan Khomeini, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini and also has shown support for the reform movement in Iran, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi's call to cancel the 2009 election results.
Husain Khomeini (Sayid Husain Khomeini), Khomeini's other grandson, son of Sayid Mustafa Khomeini, is a mid-level cleric who is strongly against the system of the Islamic Republic. In 2003, he was quoted as saying: "Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it." In that same year Husain Khomeini visited the United States, where he met figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah and the pretender to the Sun Throne. Later that year, Husain returned to Iran after receiving an urgent message from his grandmother. According to Michael Ledeen, quoting "family sources", he was blackmailed into returning. In 2006, he called for an American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic Republic, telling Al-Arabiyah television station viewers, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open].
Another of Khomeini's grandchildren, Ali Eshraghi, was disqualified from the 2008 parliamentary elections on grounds of being insufficiently loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution, but later reinstated.
Bibliography
Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.
His books include:
Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist)
The Little Green Book: A sort of manifesto of Khomeini's political thought
Forty Hadith (Forty Traditions)
Adab as Salat (The Disciplines of Prayers)
Jihade Akbar (The Greater Struggle)
Tahrir al-Wasilah Kashf al-AsrarSee also
Khomeinism
Political thought and legacy of Ruhollah Khomeini
Islamic Government (book by Khomeini)
Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order
Exiles of Imam Khomeini
Ideocracy
List of cults of personality
Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
Ruhollah Khomeini's residency (Jamaran)
1979 Iranian Revolution conspiracy theory
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Imam Khomeini's Official Website
Documentary: Imam Khomeini P1 (Free Press TV documentary)
Imam Khomeini – Reformer of the Century (English Subtitles – Press TV Documentary)
The New York Times article on Khomeini's poetry
Rouhollah Khomeini's Website
Who Is Imam Khomeini?
Selected bibliography
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – Islamic Government (Hukumat-i Islami)
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – The Last Will...
Books by and or about Rouhollah Khomeini
Letter by Ayatollah Khomeini to Mikhail Gorbachev, dated 1 January 1989. Kayhan''
Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic, 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
1900 births
1902 births
1989 deaths
Iranian Shia Muslims
20th-century imams
20th-century poets
Al-Moussawi family
Anti-Americanism
Anti-monarchists
Biographical evaluation scholars
Burials at Behesht-e Zahra
Commanders-in-Chief of Iran
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Iranian anti-communists
Iranian emigrants to France
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Iranian grand ayatollahs
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Time Person of the Year
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[
"What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? is the debut studio album from Los Angeles band 2AM Club. It was released September 14, 2010 by RCA Records.\n\nCritical reception\n\nMatt Collar of AllMusic stated that with this album \"2AM Club reveal themselves as the best and brightest of the nu-eyed-soul set\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nOn May 31, the band released a song named \"Baseline\" that was a bonus track on What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? (sold on iTunes). It was advertised by them via Twitter, and was available for free download through a file sharing website, Hulk Share.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2010 albums\nPop rock albums by American artists",
"Worry About You may refer to:\n\n \"Worry About You\" (Tyler James song)\n \"Worry About You\" (Ivy song)\n \"Worry About You\", a song by 2AM Club from album What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?\n\nSee also \n \"I Worry About You\", also spelled \"I Worry 'Bout You\", a song written by Norman Mapp"
] |
[
"Ruhollah Khomeini",
"Islamic constitution",
"Why is the Islamic constitution important to Khomeini",
"the Shah announced the \"White Revolution\", a six-point programme of reform",
"What happened next?",
"Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution.",
"What year did this happen?",
"On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans."
] |
C_2bf2b3d7e1cb48e1acfbc373119171b7_1
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What happened after the boycott of the referendum on the white revolution?
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What happened after the boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution?
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Ruhollah Khomeini
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In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists (Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam"). Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963 Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Two days later the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Iranian Shia religious scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had allegedly violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August. Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 17 January 1979, the Shah left the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran 120 journalists accompanied him, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement--much discussed at the time and since--was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment. To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace. Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God." As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?" Although revolutionaries were now in charge and Khomeini was their leader, some opposition groups claim that several secular and religious groups were unaware of Khomeini's plan for Islamic government by wilayat al-faqih, which involved rule by a marja' Islamic cleric. They claim that this provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was clearly defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state. Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic. In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country. CANNOTANSWER
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Two days later the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class.
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Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 19003 June 1989), also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the 1st Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of the Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. Most of his period in power was taken up by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.
Khomeini was born in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. His father was murdered in 1903 when Khomeini was two years old. He began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.
Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Sharia) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of welayat-el faqih, the "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution), was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to The New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution. Whether Khomeini's ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1979 for his international influence, and Khomeini has been described as the "virtual face of Shia Islam in Western popular culture". In 1982, he survived one military coup attempt. Khomeini was known for his support of the hostage takers during the Iran hostage crisis, his fatwa calling for the murder of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, and for referring to the United States as the "Great Satan" and Soviet Union as the "Lesser Satan." Khomeini has been criticized for these acts and for human rights violations of Iranians (including his ordering of execution of thousands of political prisoners, war criminals and prisoners of the Iran–Iraq War).
He has also been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity", a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars, who attempted to establish good relations between Sunnis and Shias, and a major innovator in political theory and religious-oriented populist political strategy. Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is officially known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran and by his supporters internationally. He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others. In Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his adherents, and he is legally considered "inviolable", with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. A cult of personality developed around Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution.
Early years
Background
Ruhollah Khomeini came from a lineage of small land owners, clerics, and merchants. His ancestors migrated towards the end of the 18th century from their original home in Nishapur, Khorasan Province, in northeastern part of Iran, for a short stay, to the Kingdom of Awadh, a region in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, whose rulers were Twelver Shia Muslims of Persian origin. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a steady stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects, and painters. The family eventually settled in the small town of Kintoor, near Lucknow, the capital of Awadh. Ayatollah Khomeini's paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor. He left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq) and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India. In 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein. Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, and Ruhollah Khomeini even used Hindi as a pen name in some of his ghazals. Khomeini's grandfather, Mirza Ahmad Mojtahed-e Khonsari was the cleric issuing a fatwa to forbid usage of Tobacco during the Tobacco Protest.
Childhood
According to his birth certificate, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose first name means "spirit of Allah", was born on 17 May 1900 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province although his brother Mortaza (later known as Ayatollah Pasandideh) gives his birth date of 24 September 1902, the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Mustapha Musavi, over two years after his birth in 1903.
Ruhollah began to study the Qur'an and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a local school, where he learned religion, noheh khani (lamentation recital), and other traditional subjects. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mother's cousin, Ja'far, and his elder brother, Morteza Pasandideh.
Education and lecturing
After World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Isfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi. In 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies. The following year, Ayatollah Haeri Yazdi transferred to the Islamic seminary in the holy city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, and invited his students to follow. Khomeini accepted the invitation, moved, and took up residence at the Dar al-Shafa school in Qom. Khomeini's studies included Islamic law (sharia) and jurisprudence (fiqh), but by that time, Khomeini had also acquired an interest in poetry and philosophy (irfan). So, upon arriving in Qom, Khomeini sought the guidance of Mirza Ali Akbar Yazdi, a scholar of philosophy and mysticism. Yazdi died in 1924, but Khomeini continued to pursue his interest in philosophy with two other teachers, Javad Aqa Maleki Tabrizi and Rafi'i Qazvini. However, perhaps Khomeini's biggest influences were another teacher, Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Shahabadi, and a variety of historic Sufi mystics, including Mulla Sadra and Ibn Arabi.
Khomeini studied Greek philosophy and was influenced by both the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he regarded as the founder of logic, and Plato, whose views "in the field of divinity" he regarded as "grave and solid". Among Islamic philosophers, Khomeini was mainly influenced by Avicenna and Mulla Sadra.
Apart from philosophy, Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry. His poetry collection was released after his death. Beginning in his adolescent years, Khomeini composed mystic, political and social poetry. His poetry works were published in three collections: The Confidant, The Decanter of Love and Turning Point, and Divan. His knowledge of poetry is further attested by the modern poet Nader Naderpour (1929–2000), who "had spent many hours exchanging poems with Khomeini in the early 1960s". Naderpour remembered: "For four hours we recited poetry. Every single line I recited from any poet, he recited the next."
Ruhollah Khomeini was a lecturer at Najaf and Qom seminaries for decades before he was known on the political scene. He soon became a leading scholar of Shia Islam. He taught political philosophy, Islamic history and ethics. Several of his students – for example, Morteza Motahhari – later became leading Islamic philosophers and also marja'. As a scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics. He showed an exceptional interest in subjects like philosophy and mysticism that not only were usually absent from the curriculum of seminaries but were often an object of hostility and suspicion.
Inaugurating his teaching career at the age of 27 by giving private lessons on irfan and Mulla Sadra to a private circle, around the same time, in 1928, he also released his first publication, Sharh Du'a al-Sahar (Commentary on the Du'a al-Baha), "a detailed commentary, in Arabic, on the prayer recited before dawn during Ramadan by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq", followed, some years later, by Sirr al-Salat (Secret of the Prayer), where "the symbolic dimensions and inner meaning of every part of the prayer, from the ablution that precedes it to the salam that concludes it, are expounded in a rich, complex, and eloquent language that owes much to the concepts and terminology of Ibn 'Arabi. As Sayyid Fihri, the editor and translator of Sirr al-Salat, has remarked, the work is addressed only to the foremost among the spiritual elite (akhass-i khavass) and establishes its author as one of their number." The second book has been translated by Sayyid Amjad Hussain Shah Naqavi and released by BRILL in 2015, under the title "The Mystery of Prayer: The Ascension of the Wayfarers and the Prayer of the Gnostics ".
Political aspects
His seminary teaching often focused on the importance of religion to practical social and political issues of the day, and he worked against secularism in the 1940s. His first political book, Kashf al-Asrar (Uncovering of Secrets) published in 1942, was a point-by-point refutation of Asrar-e hezar sale (Secrets of a Thousand Years), a tract written by a disciple of Iran's leading anti-clerical historian, Ahmad Kasravi, as well as a condemnation of innovations such as international time zones, and the banning of hijab by Reza Shah. In addition, he went from Qom to Tehran to listen to Ayatullah Hasan Mudarris, the leader of the opposition majority in Iran's parliament during the 1920s. Khomeini became a marja''' in 1963, following the death of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi.
Khomeini also valued the ideals of Islamists such as Sheikh Fazlollah Noori and Abol-Ghasem Kashani. Khomeini saw Fazlollah Nuri as a "heroic figure", and his own objections to constitutionalism and a secular government derived from Nuri's objections to the 1907 constitution.
Early political activity
Background
Most Iranians had a deep respect for the Shi'a clergy or Ulama, and tended to be religious, traditional, and alienated from the process of Westernization pursued by the Shah. In the late 19th century the clergy had shown themselves to be a powerful political force in Iran initiating the Tobacco Protest against a concession to a foreign (British) interest.
At the age of 61, Khomeini found the arena of leadership open following the deaths of Ayatollah Sayyed Husayn Borujerdi (1961), the leading, although quiescent, Shi'ah religious leader; and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani (1962), an activist cleric. The clerical class had been on the defensive ever since the 1920s when the secular, anti-clerical modernizer Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power. Reza's son Mohammad Reza Shah, instituted a "White Revolution", which was a further challenge to the Ulama.
Opposition to the White Revolution
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Some of these initiatives were regarded as dangerous, especially by the powerful and privileged Shi'a ulama (religious scholars), and as Westernizing trends by traditionalists. Khomeini viewed them as "an attack on Islam". Ayatollah Khomeini summoned a meeting of the other senior marjas of Qom and persuaded them to decree a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution. On 22 January 1963, Khomeini issued a strongly worded declaration denouncing both the Shah and his reform plan. Two days later, the Shah took an armored column to Qom, and delivered a speech harshly attacking the ulama as a class.
Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, issuing a manifesto that bore the signatures of eight other senior Shia religious scholars. Khomeini's manifesto argued that the Shah had violated the constitution in various ways, he condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He also decreed that the Nowruz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on 21 March 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the Sunni Muslim caliph Yazid, who is perceived as a 'tyrant' by Shias, and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country.
On 5 June 1963 (15 of Khordad) at 3:00 am, two days after this public denunciation of the Shah, Khomeini was detained in Qom and transferred to Tehran. Following this action, there were three days of major riots throughout Iran and the deaths of some 400 people. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini remained under house arrest until August.
Opposition to capitulation
On 26 October 1964, Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran.Shirley, Know Thine Enemy (1997), p. 207. What Khomeini labeled a capitulation law, was in fact a "status-of-forces agreement", stipulating that U.S. servicemen facing criminal charges stemming from a deployment in Iran, were to be tried before a U.S. court martial, not an Iranian court. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, Khomeini was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince him to apologize for his harsh rhetoric and going forward, cease his opposition to the Shah and his government. When Khomeini refused, Mansur slapped him in the face in a fit of rage. Two months later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayan-e Islam, a Shia militia sympathetic to Khomeini, were later executed for the murder.
Life in exile
Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf. Initially, he was sent to Turkey on 4 November 1964 where he stayed in Bursa in the home of Colonel Ali Cetiner of the Turkish Military Intelligence. In October 1965, after less than a year, he was allowed to move to Najaf, Iraq, where he stayed until 1978, when he was expelled by then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. By this time discontent with the Shah was becoming intense and Khomeini visited Neauphle-le-Château, a suburb of Paris, France, on a tourist visa on 6 October 1978.According to Alexandre de Marenches, chief of External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (now known as the DGSE), the Shah did not ask France to expel Khomeini for fear that the cleric should move to Syria or Libya. (source: Christine Ockrent et Alexandre de Marenches, Dans le secret des princes, Stock, 1986, , p. 254) [Donate book to Archive.org]
By the late 1960s, Khomeini was a marja-e taqlid (model for imitation) for "hundreds of thousands" of Shia, one of six or so models in the Shia world. While in the 1940s Khomeini accepted the idea of a limited monarchy under the Iranian Constitution of 1906–07 – as evidenced by his book Kashf al-Asrar – by the 1970s he had rejected the idea. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih).
This was his best known and most influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time):
That the laws of society should be made up only of the laws of God (Sharia), which cover "all human affairs" and "provide instruction and establish norms" for every "topic" in "human life."
Since Shariah, or Islamic law, is the proper law, those holding government posts should have knowledge of Sharia. Since Islamic jurists or faqih have studied and are the most knowledgeable in Sharia, the country's ruler should be a faqih who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, (known as a marja'), as well as having intelligence and administrative ability. Rule by monarchs and/or assemblies of "those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people" (i.e. elected parliaments and legislatures) has been proclaimed "wrong" by Islam.
This system of clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice, corruption, oppression by the powerful over the poor and weak, innovation and deviation of Islam and Sharia law; and also to destroy anti-Islamic influence and conspiracies by non-Muslim foreign powers.
A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or "Supreme Leader". In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. In Iran, a number of actions of the Shah including his repression of opponents began to build opposition to his regime.
Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helping to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them.
After the 1977 death of Ali Shariati (an Islamic reformist and political revolutionary author/academic/philosopher who greatly assisted the Islamic revival among young educated Iranians), Khomeini became the most influential leader of the opposition to the Shah. Adding to his mystique was the circulation among Iranians in the 1970s of an old Shia saying attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kadhem. Prior to his death in 799, al-Kadhem was said to have prophesied that "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path". In late 1978, a rumour swept the country that Khomeini's face could be seen in the full moon. Millions of people were said to have seen it and the event was celebrated in thousands of mosques. He was perceived by many Iranians as the spiritual as well as political leader of the revolt. Additionally, the episode with Khomeini's face in the moon showed that in late 1978 he was increasingly regarded as a messianic figure in Iran.
As protests grew, so did his profile and importance. Although several thousand kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
While in exile, Khomeini developed what historian Ervand Abrahamian described as a "populist clerical version of Shii Islam". Khomeini modified previous Shii interpretations of Islam in a number of ways that included aggressive approaches to espousing the general interests of the mostazafin, forcefully arguing that the clergy's sacred duty was to take over the state so that it could implement shari'a, and exhorting followers to protest.
Despite their ideological differences, Khomeini also allied with the People's Mujahedin of Iran during the early 1970s and started funding their armed operations against the Shah.
Khomeini's contact with the US
According to the BBC, Khomeini's contact with the US "is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents—diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records". The documents suggest that the Carter administration helped Khomeini return to Iran by preventing the Iranian army from launching a military coup, and that Khomeini told an American in France to convey a message to Washington that "There should be no fear about oil. It is not true that we wouldn't sell to the US."
According to a 1980 CIA study, "in November 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini sent a message to the United States Government through [Tehran University professor] Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei", where he expressed "that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran", "on the contrary, he thought the American presence was necessary as a counterbalance to Soviet and possibly British influence".
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the report, and described the documents as "fabricated". Other Iranian politicians including Ebrahim Yazdi (Khomeini's spokesman and adviser at the time of the revolution) have questioned the BBC's documents. The Guardian wrote that it "did not have access to the newly declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them," however it did confirm Khomeini's contact with the Kennedy administration and support for US interest in Iran particularly oil through a CIA analysis report titled "Islam in Iran".
According to the BBC, "these document show that in his long quest for power, he [Khomeini] was tactically flexible; he played the moderate even pro-American card to take control but once change had come he put in place an anti-America legacy that would last for decades."
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Return to Iran
Khomeini was not allowed to return to Iran during the Shah's reign (as he had been in exile). On 16 January 1979, the Shah left the country for medical treatment (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd estimated (by the BBC) to be of up to five million people. On his chartered Air France flight back to Tehran, he was accompanied by 120 journalists, including three women. One of the journalists, Peter Jennings, asked: "Ayatollah, would you be so kind as to tell us how you feel about being back in Iran?" Khomeini answered via his aide Sadegh Ghotbzadeh: "Hichi" (Nothing). This statement—much discussed at the time and since—was considered by some reflective of his mystical beliefs and non-attachment to ego. Others considered it a warning to Iranians who hoped he would be a "mainstream nationalist leader" that they were in for disappointment.
To others, it was a reflection of an unfeeling leader incapable or unconcerned with understanding the thoughts, beliefs, or the needs of the Iranian populace.
Khomeini adamantly opposed the provisional government of Shapour Bakhtiar, promising "I shall kick their teeth in. I appoint the government." On 11 February (Bahman 22), Khomeini appointed his own competing interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, demanding, "since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed." It was "God's government," he warned, disobedience against him or Bazargan was considered a "revolt against God."
As Khomeini's movement gained momentum, soldiers began to defect to his side and Khomeini declared ill fortune on troops who did not surrender. On 11 February, as revolt spread and armories were taken over, the military declared neutrality and the Bakhtiar regime collapsed. On 30 and 31 March 1979, a referendum to replace the monarchy with an Islamic Republic passed with 98% voting in favour of the replacement, with the question: "should the monarchy be abolished in favour of an Islamic Government?"
Islamic constitution
While in Paris, Khomeini had "promised a democratic political system" for Iran, but once in power, he advocated for the creation of theocracy based on the Velayat-e faqih. This led to the purge or replacement of many secular politicians in Iran, with Khomeini and his close associates taking the following steps: Establishing Islamic Revolutionary courts; replacing the previous military and police force; placing Iran's top theologians and Islamic intellectuals in charge of writing a theocratic constitutions, with a central role for Velayat-e faqih; creating the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) through Khomeini's Motjaheds with the aim of establishing a theocratic government and tearing down any secular opposition ("as Khomeini's competitors in the religious hierarchy"); replacing all secular laws with Islamic laws; neutralising or punishing top theologians that had conflicting ideas with Khomeini including Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi, and Hossein Ali Montazeri.
Opposition groups claimed that Khomeini's provisional constitution for the Islamic Republic did not first include the post of supreme Islamic clerical ruler. The Islamic government was defined by Khomeini in his book Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist) which was published while Khomeini was in exile in 1970, smuggled into Iran, and distributed to Khomeini's supporters. This book included Khomeini's notion of wilayat al-faqih (Governance of the Jurist) as well as the reasoning and in his view, the necessity of it in running an Islamic state.
Khomeini and his supporters worked to suppress some former allies and rewrote the proposed constitution. Some newspapers were closed, and those protesting the closings were attacked. Opposition groups such as the National Democratic Front and Muslim People's Republican Party were attacked and finally banned. Through popular support, Khomeini supporters gained an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Assembly of Experts which revised the proposed constitution. The newly proposed constitution included an Islamic jurist Supreme Leader of the country, and a Council of Guardians to veto un-Islamic legislation and screen candidates for office, disqualifying those found un-Islamic.
In November 1979, the new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by national referendum. Khomeini himself became instituted as the Supreme Leader (Guardian Jurist), and officially became known as the "Leader of the Revolution." On 4 February 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as the first president of Iran. Critics complain that Khomeini had gone back on his word to advise, rather than rule the country.
Hostage crisis
On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution.
On 4 November, a group of Iranian college students calling themselves the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took control of the American Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 embassy staff hostage for 444 days – an event known as the Iran hostage crisis. In the United States, the hostage-taking was seen as a flagrant violation of international law and aroused intense anger and anti-Iranian sentiments.Bowden, Mark, Guests of the Ayatollah, Atlantic Monthly Press, (2006)
In Iran, the takeover was immensely popular and earned the support of Khomeini under the slogan "America can't do a damn thing against us." The seizure of the embassy of a country he called the "Great Satan" helped to advance the cause of theocratic government and outflank politicians and groups who emphasized stability and normalized relations with other countries. Khomeini is reported to have told his president: "This action has many benefits ... this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections." The new constitution was successfully passed by referendum a month after the hostage crisis began.
The crisis had the effect of splitting of the opposition into two groups – radicals supporting the hostage taking, and the moderates opposing it.Example of anti-theocratic support for the hostage crisis in Nafisi, Azar, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Random House, 2003, p.105–106, 112 On 23 February 1980, Khomeini proclaimed Iran's Majlis would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages, and demanded that the United States hand over the Shah for trial in Iran for crimes against the nation. Although the Shah died a few months later, during the summer, the crisis continued. In Iran, supporters of Khomeini named the embassy a "Den of Espionage", publicizing details regarding armaments, espionage equipment and many volumes of official and classified documents which they found there.
Relationship with Islamic and non-aligned countries
Khomeini believed in Muslim unity and solidarity and the export of his revolution throughout the world. He believed Shia and (the significantly more numerous) Sunni Muslims should be "united and stand firmly against Western and arrogant powers."
"Establishing the Islamic state world-wide belong to the great goals of the revolution." He declared the birth week of Muhammad (the week between 12th to 17th of Rabi' al-awwal) as the Unity week. Then he declared the last Friday of Ramadan as International Day of Quds in 1981.
Iran–Iraq War
Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world, including Iran's Arab neighbor Iraq, the one large state besides Iran with a Shia majority population. At the same time Saddam Hussein, Iraq's secular Arab nationalist Ba'athist leader, was eager to take advantage of Iran's weakened military and (what he assumed was) revolutionary chaos, and in particular to occupy Iran's adjacent oil-rich province of Khuzestan, and to undermine Iranian Islamic revolutionary attempts to incite the Shi'a majority of his country.
In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War (September 1980 – August 1988). A combination of fierce resistance by Iranians and military incompetence by Iraqi forces soon stalled the Iraqi advance and, despite Saddam's internationally condemned use of poison gas, Iran had by early 1982 regained almost all of the territory lost to the invasion. The invasion rallied Iranians behind the new regime, enhancing Khomeini's stature and allowing him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. After this reversal, Khomeini refused an Iraqi offer of a truce, instead demanding reparations and the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. In 1982, there was an attempted military coup against Khomeini. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988, with 320,000–720,000 Iranian soldiers and militia killed.
Although Iran's population and economy were three times the size of Iraq's, the latter was aided by neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, as well as the Soviet Bloc and Western countries. The Persian Gulf Arabs and the West wanted to be sure the Islamic revolution did not spread across the Persian Gulf, while the Soviet Union was concerned about the potential threat posed to its rule in central Asia to the north. However, Iran had large amounts of ammunition provided by the United States of America during the Shah's era and the United States illegally smuggled arms to Iran during the 1980s despite Khomeini's anti-Western policy (see Iran–Contra affair).
During war Iranians used human wave attacks (people walking to certain death including child soldiers) on Iraq, with his promise that they would automatically go to paradise—al Janna— if they died in battle, and his pursuit of victory in the Iran–Iraq War that ultimately proved futile. By March 1984, two million of Iran's most educated citizens had left the country This included an estimated one and a half million that had fled Iran, victims of political executions, and the hundreds of thousands of "martyrs" from Khomeini's bloody "human wave " attacks on Iraq.
In July 1988, Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. Despite the high cost of the war – 450,000 to 950,000 Iranian casualties and US$300 billion – Khomeini insisted that extending the war into Iraq in an attempt to overthrow Saddam had not been a mistake. In a "Letter to Clergy" he wrote: "... we do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our performance during the war. Have we forgotten that we fought to fulfill our religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?"
Fatwa against chemical weapons
In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning work on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued.
Rushdie fatwa
In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling (fatwā) prescribed Rushdie's assassination by any Muslim. The fatwā required not only Rushdie's execution, but also the execution of "all those involved in the publication" of the book.
Khomeini's fatwā was condemned across the Western world by governments on the grounds that it violated the universal human rights of free speech and freedom of religion. The fatwā has also been attacked for violating the rules of fiqh by not allowing the accused an opportunity to defend himself, and because "even the most rigorous and extreme of the classical jurist only require a Muslim to kill anyone who insults the Prophet in his hearing and in his presence."
Though Rushdie publicly regretted "the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam", the fatwa was not revoked.
Rushdie himself was not killed but Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the book The Satanic Verses, was murdered and two other translators of the book survived murder attempts.
Life under Khomeini
In a speech on 1 February 1979 delivered to a huge crowd after returning to Iran from exile, Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his coming Islamic regime: a popularly elected government that would represent the people of Iran and with which the clergy would not interfere. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep.
Under Khomeini's rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Women were required to cover their hair, and men were forbidden to wear shorts. Alcoholic drinks, most Western movies, and the practice of men and women swimming or sunbathing together were banned. The Iranian educational curriculum was Islamized at all levels with the Islamic Cultural Revolution; the "Committee for Islamization of Universities" carried this out thoroughly. The broadcasting of any music other than martial or religious on Iranian radio and television was banned by Khomeini in July 1979. The ban lasted 10 years (approximately the rest of his life).
According to Janet Afari, "the newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious minorities, liberals, and leftists – all in the name of Islam."
Women and child rights
Khomeini took on extensive and proactive support of the female populace during the ouster of Shah and his subsequent homecoming, advocating for mainstreaming of women into all spheres of life and even hypothesizing about a woman head of state. However, once he returned, his stances on women's rights exhibited drastic changes. Khomeini revoked Iran's 1967 divorce law, considering any divorce granted under this law to be invalid. Nevertheless, Khomeini supported women's right to divorce as allowed by Islamic law. Khomeini reaffirmed the traditional position of rape in Islamic law in which rape by a spouse was not equivalent to rape or zina, declaring "a woman must surrender to her husband for any pleasure".
A mere three weeks after assuming power, under the pretext of reversing the Shah's affinity for westernization and backed by a vocal conservative section of Iranian society, he revoked the divorce law. Under Khomeini the minimum age of marriage was lowered to 15 for boys and 13 for girls; nevertheless, the average age of women at marriage continued to increase.
Laws were passed that encouraged polygamy, made it impossible for women to divorce men, and treated adultery as the highest form of criminal offense. Women were compelled to wear veils and the image of Western women was carefully reconstructed as a symbol of impiety. Morality and modesty were perceived as fundamental womanly traits that needed state protection, and concepts of individual gender rights were relegated to women's social rights as ordained in Islam. Fatima was widely presented as the ideal emulatable woman.
At the same time, amidst the religious orthodoxy, there was an active effort to rehabilitate women into employment. Female participation in healthcare, education and the workforce increased drastically during his regime.
Reception among women of his regime has been mixed. Whilst a section were dismayed at the increasing Islamisation and concurrent degradation of women's rights, others did notice more opportunities and mainstreaming of relatively religiously conservative women.
Homosexuality
Shortly after his accession as supreme leader in February 1979, Khomeini imposed capital punishment on homosexuals. Between February and March, sixteen Iranians were executed due to offenses related to sexual violations. Khomeini also created the "Revolutionary Tribunals". According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeini encouraged the clerical courts to continue implementing their version of the Shari'a. As part of the campaign to "cleanse" the society, these courts executed over 100 drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, rapists, and adulterers on the charge of "sowing corruption on earth." According to author Arno Schmitt, "Khomeini asserted that 'homosexuals' had to be exterminated because they were parasites and corruptors of the nation by spreading the 'stain of wickedness.'" Transsexuality was designated by Khomeini as a sickness that was able to be cured through surgery. In 1979, he had declared that the execution of homosexuals (as well as prostitutes and adulterers) was reasonable in a moral civilization in the same sense as cutting off decayed skin.
Emigration and economy
Khomeini is said to have stressed "the spiritual over the material".(Brumberg, Reinventing Khomeini (2001), p. 125) Six months after his first speech he expressed exasperation with complaints about the sharp drop in Iran's standard of living, saying that: "I cannot believe that the purpose of all these sacrifices was to have less expensive melons." On another occasion emphasizing the importance of martyrdom over material prosperity, he said: "Could anyone wish his child to be martyred to obtain a good house? This is not the issue. The issue is another world." He also reportedly answered a question about his economic policies by declaring that 'economics is for donkeys'.The original quote which is part of a speech made in 1979 can be found here: I cannot imagine and no wise person can presume the claim that we spared our bloods so watermelon becomes cheaper. No wise person would sacrifice his young offspring for [say] affordable housing. People [on the contrary] want everything for their young offspring. Human being wants economy for his own self; it would therefore be unwise for him to spare his life in order to improve economy [...] Those who keep bringing up economy and find economy the infrastructure of everything -not knowing what human[ity] means- think of human being as an animal who is defined by means of food and clothes[...] Those who find economy the infrastructure of everything, find human beings animals. Animal too sacrifices everything for its economy and economy is its sole infrastructure. A donkey too considers economy as its only infrastructure. These people did not realize what human being [truly] is. This disinterest in economic policy is said to be "one factor explaining the inchoate performance of the Iranian economy since the revolution." Other factors include the long war with Iraq, the cost of which led to government debt and inflation, eroding personal incomes, and unprecedented unemployment, ideological disagreement over the economy, and "international pressure and isolation" such as US sanctions following the hostage crisis.
Due to the Iran–Iraq War, poverty is said to have risen by nearly 45% during the first 6 years of Khomeini's rule. Emigration from Iran also developed, reportedly for the first time in the country's history. Since the revolution and war with Iraq, an estimated "two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)" have emigrated to other countries.
Suppression of opposition
In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom on 30 August 1979, Khomeini warned pro-imperialist opponents: "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer."
However, in 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped him by providing a list of Soviet KGB agents and collaborators operating in Iran to Khomeini, who then executed up to 200 suspects and closed down the Communist Tudeh Party of Iran. Available online here.
The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran and escaped harm, but hundreds of former members of the overthrown monarchy and military met their ends in firing squads, with exiled critics complaining of "secrecy, vagueness of the charges, the absence of defense lawyers or juries", or the opportunity of the accused "to defend themselves." In later years these were followed in larger numbers by the erstwhile revolutionary allies of Khomeini's movement—Marxists and socialists, mostly university students—who opposed the theocratic regime. Following the 1981 Hafte Tir bombing, Khomeini declared the Mojahedin and anyone violently opposed to the government, "enemies of God" and pursued a mass campaign against members of the Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Tudeh parties as well as their families, close friends, and even anyone who was accused of counterrevolutionary behavior.
In the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, following the People's Mujahedin of Iran unsuccessful operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner (mostly but not all Mujahedin) and kill those judged to be apostates from Islam (mortad) or "waging war on God" (moharebeh). Almost all of those interrogated were killed, around 30,000 of them. Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.
Minority religions
Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are officially recognized and protected by the government. Shortly after Khomeini's return from exile in 1979, he issued a fatwa ordering that Jews and other minorities (except those of the Baháʼí Faith) be treated well. In power, Khomeini distinguished between Zionism as a secular political party that employs Jewish symbols and ideals and Judaism as the religion of Moses.
Senior government posts were reserved for Muslims. Schools set up by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians had to be run by Muslim principals. Conversion to Islam was encouraged by entitling converts to inherit the entire share of their parents (or even uncle's) estate if their siblings (or cousins) remain non-Muslim. Iran's non-Muslim population has decreased. For example, the Jewish population in Iran dropped from 80,000 to 30,000. The Zoroastrian population has also decreased, due to suffering from renewed persecution and the revived legal contrasts between a Muslim and Zoroastrian, which mirrors the laws that Zoroastrians experienced under earlier Islamic regimes. The view that Zoroastrians are najis ("unclean") has also been renewed.
Four of the 270 seats in parliament were reserved for each three non-Muslim minority religions, under the Islamic constitution that Khomeini oversaw. Khomeini also called for unity between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Sunni Muslims make up 9% of the entire Muslim population in Iran.
One non-Muslim group treated differently were the 300,000 members of the Baháʼí Faith. Starting in late 1979 the new government systematically targeted the leadership of the Baháʼí community by focusing on the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) and Local Spiritual Assemblies (LSAs); prominent members of NSAs and LSAs were often detained and even executed. "Some 200 of whom have been executed and the rest forced to convert or subjected to the most horrendous disabilities."
Like most conservative Muslims, Khomeini believed Baháʼí to be apostates. He claimed they were a political rather than a religious movement,
declaring:
Ethnic minorities
After the Shah left Iran in 1979, a Kurdish delegation traveled to Qom to present the Kurds' demands to Khomeini. Their demands included language rights and the provision for a degree of political autonomy. Khomeini responded that such demands were unacceptable since it involved the division of the Iranian nation. The following months saw numerous clashes between Kurdish militia groups and the Revolutionary Guards. The referendum on the Islamic Republic was massively boycotted in Kurdistan, where it was thought 85 to 90% of voters abstained. Khomeini ordered additional attacks later on in the year, and by September most of Iranian Kurdistan was under direct martial law.
Death and funeral
Khomeini's health declined several years prior to his death. After spending eleven days in Jamaran hospital, Ruhollah Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in just ten days, at the age of 89 just before midnight. He was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ali Khamenei. Large numbers of Iranians took to the streets to publicly mourn his death and in the scorching summer heat, fire trucks sprayed water on the crowds to cool them. At least 10 mourners were trampled to death, more than 400 were badly hurt and several thousand more were treated for injuries sustained in the ensuing pandemonium.In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade by Robin Wright, (1989), p. 204
According to Iran's official estimates, 10.2 million people lined the route to Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on 11 June 1989, for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Western agencies estimated that 2 million paid their respects as the body lay in state.
Figures about Khomeini's initial funeral attendance which took place on 4 June range around 2.5–3.5 million people. Early the following day, Khomeini's corpse was flown in by helicopter for burial at the Behesht-e Zahra. Iranian officials postponed Khomeini's first funeral after a huge mob stormed the funeral procession, destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body or touch of his coffin. In some cases, armed soldiers were compelled to fire warning shots in the air to restrain the crowds. At one point, Khomeini's body fell to the ground, as the crowd ripped off pieces of the death shroud, trying to keep them as if they were holy relics. According to journalist James Buchan:
The second funeral was held under much tighter security five hours later. This time, Khomeini's casket was made of steel, and in accordance with Islamic tradition, the casket was only to carry the body to the burial site. In 1995, his son Ahmad was buried next to him. Khomeini's grave is now housed within a larger mausoleum complex.
Succession
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a former student of Khomeini and a major figure of the Revolution, was chosen by Khomeini to be his successor as Supreme Leader and approved as such by the Assembly of Experts in November 1985. The principle of velayat-e faqih and the Islamic constitution called for the Supreme Leader to be a marja (a grand ayatollah), and of the dozen or so grand ayatollahs living in 1981 only Montazeri qualified as a potential Leader (this was either because only he accepted totally Khomeini's concept of rule by Islamic jurists,Mackay, Iranians, (1998), p.353 or, as at least one other source stated, because only Montazeri had the "political credentials" Khomeini found suitable for his successor). The execution of Mehdi Hashemi in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities was a blow to Ayatollah Montazeri, who knew Hashemi since their childhood. In 1989 Montazeri began to call for liberalization, freedom for political parties. Following the execution of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic government, Montazeri told Khomeini: "Your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and his SAVAK." After a letter of his complaints was leaked to Europe and broadcast on the BBC, a furious Khomeini ousted him in March 1989 from his position as official successor. His portraits were removed from offices and mosques.
To deal with the disqualification of the only suitable marja, Khomeini called for an 'Assembly for Revising the Constitution' to be convened. An amendment was made to Iran's constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja and this allowed Ali Khamenei, the new favoured jurist who had suitable revolutionary credentials but lacked scholarly ones and who was not a Grand Ayatollah, to be designated as successor.Mackey, SandraThe Iranians (1996), p. 353 Ayatollah Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri continued his criticism of the regime and in 1997 was put under house arrest for questioning what he regarded to be an unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader.Leader Khamenei PBS
Anniversary
The anniversary of Khomeini's death is a public holiday. To commemorate Khomeini, people visit his mausoleum placed on Behesht-e Zahra to hear sermons and practice prayers on his death day.
Political thought and legacy
According to at least one scholar, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran "are largely defined by attempts to claim Khomeini's legacy" and that "staying faithful to his ideology has been the litmus test for all political activity" there. Throughout his many writings and speeches, Khomeini's views on governance evolved. Originally declaring rule by monarchs or others permissible so long as sharia law was followed Khomeini later adamantly opposed monarchy, arguing that only rule by a leading Islamic jurist (a marja') would ensure Sharia was properly followed (wilayat al-faqih), before finally insisting the ruling jurist need not be a leading one and Sharia rule could be overruled by that jurist if necessary to serve the interests of Islam and the "divine government" of the Islamic state.
Khomeini's concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (ولایت فقیه, velayat-e faqih) as Islamic government did not win the support of the leading Iranian Shi'i clergy of the time. Towards the 1979 Revolution, many clerics gradually became disillusioned with the rule of the Shah, although none came around to supporting Khomeini's vision of a theocratic Islamic Republic.
The Egyptian Jihadist ideologue Sayyid Qutb was an important source of influence to Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran under Khomeini honoured Qutb's "martyrdom" by issuing an iconic postage stamp showing him behind bars. Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution. Prominent figures such as current Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his brother Muhammad Ali Khamenei, Aḥmad Aram, Hadi Khosroshahi, etc. translated Qutb's works into Persian.
There is much debate to as whether Khomeini's ideas are or are not compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be a democratic republic. According to the state-run Aftab News, both ultraconservative (Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi) and reformist opponents of the regime (Akbar Ganji and Abdolkarim Soroush) believe he did not, while regime officials and supporters like Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Khatami and Mortaza Motahhari believe Khomeini intended the Islamic republic to be democratic and that it is so. Khomeini himself also made statements at different times indicating both support and opposition to democracy.
One scholar, Shaul Bakhash, explains this disagreement as coming from Khomeini's belief that the huge turnout of Iranians in anti-Shah demonstrations during the revolution constituted a 'referendum' in favor of an Islamic republic. Khomeini also wrote that since Muslims must support a government based on Islamic law, Sharia-based government will always have more popular support in Muslim countries than any government based on elected representatives.
Khomeini offered himself as a "champion of Islamic revival" and unity, emphasizing issues Muslims agreed upon – the fight against Zionism and imperialism – and downplaying Shia issues that would divide Shia from Sunni.
Khomeini strongly opposed close relations with either Eastern or Western Bloc nations, believing the Islamic world should be its own bloc, or rather converge into a single unified power. He viewed Western culture as being inherently decadent and a corrupting influence upon the youth. The Islamic Republic banned or discouraged popular Western fashions, music, cinema, and literature. In the Western world it is said "his glowering visage became the virtual face of Islam in Western popular culture" and "inculcated fear and distrust towards Islam," making the word 'Ayatollah' "a synonym for a dangerous madman ... in popular parlance." This has particularly been the case in the United States where some Iranians complained that even at universities they felt the need to hide their Iranian identity for fear of physical attack. There Khomeini and the Islamic Republic are remembered for the American embassy hostage taking and accused of sponsoring hostage-taking and terrorist attacks,for example the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing see:Hizb'allah in Lebanon: The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis Magnus Ranstorp, Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews St. Martins Press, New York, 1997, p.54, 117 and which continues to apply economic sanctions against Iran.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth."
Many of Khomeini's political and religious ideas were considered to be progressive and reformist by leftist intellectuals and activists prior to the Revolution. However, once in power his ideas often clashed with those of modernist or secular Iranian intellectuals. This conflict came to a head during the writing of the Islamic constitution when many newspapers were closed by the government. Khomeini angrily told the intellectuals:
Yes, we are reactionaries, and you are enlightened intellectuals: You intellectuals do not want us to go back 1400 years. You, who want freedom, freedom for everything, the freedom of parties, you who want all the freedoms, you intellectuals: freedom that will corrupt our youth, freedom that will pave the way for the oppressor, freedom that will drag our nation to the bottom.
In contrast to his alienation from Iranian intellectuals, and "in an utter departure from all other Islamist movements," Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity." From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinistas to the African National Congress and the Irish Republican Army) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin."
Khomeini's legacy to the economy of the Islamic Republic has been expressions of concern for the mustazafin (a Quranic term for the oppressed or deprived), but not always results that aided them. During the 1990s the mustazafin and disabled war veterans rioted on several occasions, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices, etc. Khomeini's disdain for the science of economics ("economics is for donkeys") is said to have been "mirrored" by the populist redistribution policies of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who allegedly wears "his contempt for economic orthodoxy as a badge of honour", and has overseen sluggish growth and rising inflation and unemployment.
In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wrote a book in which he stated that there is no religious restriction on corrective surgery for transgender individuals. At the time Khomeini was an anti-Shah revolutionary and his fatwas did not carry any weight with the Imperial government, which did not have any specific policies regarding transsexual individuals.
However, after 1979, his fatwa "formed the basis for a national policy" and perhaps in part because of a penal code that "allows for the execution of homosexuals", as of 2005 Iran "permits and partly finances seven times as many gender reassignment operations as the entire European Union".
Appearance and habits
Khomeini was described as "slim", but athletic and "heavily boned".
He was known for his punctuality:
Khomeini was also known for his aloofness and austere demeanor. He is said to have had "variously inspired admiration, awe, and fear from those around him." His practice of moving "through the halls of the madresehs never smiling at anybody or anything; his practice of ignoring his audience while he taught, contributed to his charisma."
Khomeini adhered to traditional beliefs of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence holding that things like urine, excrement, blood, wine etc. and also non-Muslims were some of eleven ritualistically "impure" things that physical contact with which while wet required ritual washing or Ghusl before prayer or salat.Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p.383 He is reported to have refused to eat or drink in a restaurant unless he knew for sure the waiter was a Muslim.
Mystique
According to Baqer Moin, as part of Khomeini's personality cult, he "had been transformed into a semi-divine figure. He was no longer a grand ayatollah and deputy of the Imam, one who represents the Hidden Imam, but simply 'The Imam'." Khomeini's personality cult fills a central position in foreign- and domestically targeted Iranian publications. The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
An eight-century Hadith attributed to the Imam Musa al-Kazim that said "A man will come out from Qom and he will summon people to the right path. There will rally to him people resembling pieces of iron, not to be shaken by violent winds, unsparing and relying on God" was repeated in Iran as a tribute to Khomeini. However, in Lebanon, this saying was also attributed to Musa al-Sadr.
Khomeini was the first and only Iranian cleric to be addressed as "Imam", a title hitherto reserved in Iran for the twelve infallible leaders of the early Shi'a. He was also associated with the Mahdi or 12th Imam of Shia belief in a number of ways. One of his titles was Na'eb-e Imam (Deputy to the Twelfth Imam). His enemies were often attacked as taghut and Mofsed-e-filarz, religious terms used for enemies of the Twelfth Imam. Many of the officials of the overthrown Shah's government executed by Revolutionary Courts were convicted of "fighting against the Twelfth Imam". When a deputy in the majlis asked Khomeini directly if he was the 'promised Mahdi', Khomeini did not answer, "astutely" neither confirming nor denying the title.
As the revolution gained momentum, even some non-supporters exhibited awe, called him "magnificently clear-minded, single-minded and unswerving." His image was as "absolute, wise, and indispensable leader of the nation"
The Imam, it was generally believed, had shown by his uncanny sweep to power, that he knew how to act in ways which others could not begin to understand. His timing was extraordinary, and his insight into the motivation of others, those around him as well as his enemies, could not be explained as ordinary knowledge. This emergent belief in Khomeini as a divinely guided figure was carefully fostered by the clerics who supported him and spoke up for him in front of the people.
Even many secularists who firmly disapproved of his policies were said to feel the power of his "messianic" appeal. Comparing him to a father figure who retains the enduring loyalty even of children he disapproves of, journalist Afshin Molavi writes that defenses of Khomeini are "heard in the most unlikely settings":
Another journalist tells the story of listening to bitter criticism of the regime by an Iranian who tells her of his wish for his son to leave the country and who "repeatedly" makes the point "that life had been better" under the Shah. When his complaint is interrupted by news that "the Imam" — over 85 years old at the time — might be dying, the critic becomes "ashen faced" and speechless, pronouncing "this is terrible for my country."
An example of Khomeini's charisma is the effect a half-hour-long, 1982 speech on the Quran by him had on a Muslim scholar from South Africa, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat:
Family and descendants
In 1929, Khomeini married Khadijeh Saqafi, the daughter of a cleric in Tehran. Some sources claim that Khomeini married Saqafi when she was ten years old, while others claim she was fifteen years old. By all accounts their marriage was harmonious and happy. She died in 2009. They had seven children, though only five survived infancy. His daughters all married into either merchant or clerical families, and both his sons entered into religious life. Mostafa, the elder son, died in 1977 while in exile in Najaf, Iraq with his father and was rumored by supporters of his father to have been murdered by SAVAK. Ahmad Khomeini, who died in 1995 at the age of 50, was also rumoured to be a victim of foul play, but at the hands of the regime. Perhaps his "most prominent daughter", Zahra Mostafavi, is a professor at the University of Tehran, and still alive.
Khomeini's fifteen grandchildren include:
Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter, married to Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party in the country, and is considered a pro-reform character herself.
Hassan Khomeini, Khomeini's elder grandson Sayid Hasan Khomeini, son of the Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini, is a cleric and the trustee of the Mausoleum of Khomeini and also has shown support for the reform movement in Iran, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi's call to cancel the 2009 election results.
Husain Khomeini (Sayid Husain Khomeini), Khomeini's other grandson, son of Sayid Mustafa Khomeini, is a mid-level cleric who is strongly against the system of the Islamic Republic. In 2003, he was quoted as saying: "Iranians need freedom now, and if they can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an Iranian, I would welcome it." In that same year Husain Khomeini visited the United States, where he met figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah and the pretender to the Sun Throne. Later that year, Husain returned to Iran after receiving an urgent message from his grandmother. According to Michael Ledeen, quoting "family sources", he was blackmailed into returning. In 2006, he called for an American invasion and overthrow of the Islamic Republic, telling Al-Arabiyah television station viewers, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open].
Another of Khomeini's grandchildren, Ali Eshraghi, was disqualified from the 2008 parliamentary elections on grounds of being insufficiently loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution, but later reinstated.
Bibliography
Khomeini was a prolific writer and speaker (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics.
His books include:
Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih (Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist)
The Little Green Book: A sort of manifesto of Khomeini's political thought
Forty Hadith (Forty Traditions)
Adab as Salat (The Disciplines of Prayers)
Jihade Akbar (The Greater Struggle)
Tahrir al-Wasilah Kashf al-AsrarSee also
Khomeinism
Political thought and legacy of Ruhollah Khomeini
Islamic Government (book by Khomeini)
Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order
Exiles of Imam Khomeini
Ideocracy
List of cults of personality
Ruhollah Khomeini's letter to Mikhail Gorbachev
Ruhollah Khomeini's residency (Jamaran)
1979 Iranian Revolution conspiracy theory
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Imam Khomeini's Official Website
Documentary: Imam Khomeini P1 (Free Press TV documentary)
Imam Khomeini – Reformer of the Century (English Subtitles – Press TV Documentary)
The New York Times article on Khomeini's poetry
Rouhollah Khomeini's Website
Who Is Imam Khomeini?
Selected bibliography
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – Islamic Government (Hukumat-i Islami)
Syed Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini – The Last Will...
Books by and or about Rouhollah Khomeini
Letter by Ayatollah Khomeini to Mikhail Gorbachev, dated 1 January 1989. Kayhan''
Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic, 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
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[
"The Rosa Parks Museum is located on the Troy University at Montgomery satellite campus, in Montgomery, Alabama. It has information, exhibits, and some artifacts from the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. This museum is named after civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who is known for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person on a city bus.\n\nMuseum \nInside the museum, there are interactive activities and even a reenactment of what happened on the bus as if you were outside the bus watching. There are artifacts in the museum from the Montgomery Bus Boycott. \n\nThis museum is significant to Montgomery because it exhibits events that had occurred during the civil rights era in Alabama. one of the reasons to build the museum was due to the bus boycott that occurred in Montgomery. It was built in Rosa Parks's honor to educate and tell people of her story. While the actual bus the incident occurred on has been scrapped, the Museum has on exhibit another which is identical to it.\n\nDedication \nTroy University in Montgomery, Alabama wanted to dedicate their new library and museum to Rosa Parks, \"The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement\". The library carries her name and it commemorates her refusal to give up her seat on the Montgomery City Bus to a white man. The museum and library were opened on the anniversary of the day she refused to give up her seat: December 1.\n\nFor the 65th anniversary of the boycott, two new traveling exhibitions were added. \"The Women of the Movement\" tells the stories of Jo Ann Robinson, Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith and Lucille Times. \"The Legacy of Rosa Parks\" includes the museum history and the relevance of nonviolent disobedience today.\n\nSee also \n List of museums focused on African Americans\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nMuseums in Montgomery, Alabama\nTroy University\nHistory museums in Alabama\nCivil rights movement museums\nMontgomery bus boycott\nAfrican-American museums in Alabama",
"The Northern Ireland border poll was a referendum held in Northern Ireland on 8 March 1973 on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or join with the Republic of Ireland to form a united Ireland. It was the first time that a major referendum had been held in any region of the United Kingdom. The referendum was boycotted by nationalists and resulted in a conclusive victory for remaining in the UK. On a voter turnout of 58.7 percent, 98.9 percent voted to remain in the UK.\n\nParty support\nThe Unionist parties supported the 'UK' option, as did the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. However, the Alliance Party was also critical of the poll. While it supported the holding of periodic plebiscites on the constitutional link with Great Britain, the party felt that to avoid the border poll becoming a \"sectarian head count\", it should ask other relevant questions such as whether the people supported the UK's White Paper on Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, on 5 February 1973, the party's Chairman, Jim Hendron, stated that \"Support for the position of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom is a fundamental principle of the Alliance Party, not only for economic reasons but also because we firmly believe that a peaceful solution to our present tragic problems is only possible within a United Kingdom context. Either a Sinn Féin all-Ireland republic or a Vanguard-style Ulster republic would lead to disaster for all our people.\"\n\nThe Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), however, called for a boycott of the referendum, urging its members on 23 January 1973 \"to ignore completely the referendum and reject this extremely irresponsible decision by the British Government\". Gerry Fitt, leader of the SDLP, said he had organised a boycott to stop an escalation in violence.\n\nViolence\nThe civil authorities were prepared for violence on polling day. They had put in place mobile polling stations which could be rushed into use if there was bomb damage to scheduled poll buildings. Two days before the referendum a British soldier, Guardsman Anton Brown of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards was shot dead in Belfast as the army searched for weapons and explosives which could be used to disrupt the upcoming referendum.\n\nViolence by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries still took place on polling day. The Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded several bombs across Northern Ireland and shot dead a British soldier guarding a polling station in the area of the Falls Road, Belfast in Belfast. The Ulster Defence Association abducted and killed a Catholic civilian from Ballymurphy. A polling station in East Belfast guarded by the Ulster Defence Regiment was also raided by Loyalist paramilitaries who stole several Self-loading rifles.\n\nAs a political response to the referendum, the Provisional Irish Republican Army also planted four car bombs in London that day, two of which went off, causing one death and injuring 200.\n\nResult\n\nThe vote resulted in an overwhelming majority of those who voted stating they wished to remain in the UK. The nationalist boycott contributed to a turnout of only 58.7% of the electorate. In addition to taking a majority of votes cast, the UK option received the support of 57.5% of the total electorate. According to the BBC, less than 1% of the Catholic population turned out to vote.\n\nReactions\nThe Government of the United Kingdom took no action on receipt of the referendum result, as the result was in favour of the status quo (Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK). It was followed by an Assembly election on 28 June 1973.\n\nBrian Faulkner, who had been the last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, claimed the result left \"no doubt in any one's mind what the wishes of Ulster's people are. Despite an attempted boycott by some, almost 600,000 electors voted for the maintenance of the union with Great Britain\". He also claimed that the poll showed that a \"quarter of the [N.I.] Catholic population who voted ... voted for the maintenance of the union\" and that the result was a \"blow ... against IRA mythology\".\n\nSee also\nReferendums in the United Kingdom\n\nReferences\n\nNorthern Ireland border poll\nConstitutional referendums in Northern Ireland\nNorthern Ireland border poll\nNorthern Ireland border poll\nBorder polls\nNorthern Ireland border poll\n1973 elections in Northern Ireland"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established"
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
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What happened in 1996?
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What happened about DJ Bobo in 1996?
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DJ BoBo
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The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
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The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,
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Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
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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"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,"
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
|
What position did the album reach on the charts?
| 2 |
What position did DJ Bobo's album World in Motion, released in September 1996, reach on the charts?
|
DJ BoBo
|
The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
|
It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units.
|
Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| false |
[
"Chapter One is the name of the Collage debut album, released on June 10, 1994, by the label Viper / Metropolitan Records.\n\nFrom that album came out three singles, \"I'll Be Loving You,\" the single most successful album, reaching No. 56 position on Billboard Hot 100, \"Gangster of Love\" and \"Diana\", which did not reach the same success of the first single.\n\nTracks\n\nCharts\nSingles - Billboard\n\nReferences\n\n1994 albums\nCollage (singer) albums",
"Now That's What I Call Music! 19 was released on July 19, 2005. The album is the 19th edition of the Now! series in the United States. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the seventh volume of the series to reach the top of the pop album chart. It is also the only Now compilation to crossover and reach number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.\n\nNow! 19 has been certified 2× Platinum and features one Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, \"Hollaback Girl\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2005 compilation albums\n 019\nCapitol Records compilation albums"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,",
"What position did the album reach on the charts?",
"It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units."
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
|
Did DJ BoBo tour?
| 3 |
With the release of his album World in Motion in September 1996 and the album reaching Platinum status, did DJ BoBo tour?
|
DJ BoBo
|
The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
|
Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days,
|
Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| false |
[
"Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.\n\nAs a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single \"Somebody Dance with Me\", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's \"Somebody's Watching Me\". BoBo charted with the singles \"Keep on Dancing\", \"Take Control\", \"Everybody\", \"Let the Dream Come True\", \"Love Is All Around\", \"Freedom\", \"Pray\", and \"What a Feeling\", as well as \"Chihuahua\", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.\n\nBetween 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.\n\nBiography\n\n1985–1991: Early beginnings\nPeter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest \"Disco Kings\" with his acrobatic dance style.\n\nBaumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single \"I Love You\" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, \"Ladies in the House\" and \"Let's Groove On\".\n\n1992–1996: Career breakthrough\nBaumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit \"Somebody Dance with Me\" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. \"Somebody Dance with Me\" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, \"Keep on Dancing\", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, \"Take Control\", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, \"Everybody\", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. \"Everybody\" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop (\"hip house\"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.\n\nIn the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single \"Let the Dream Come True\" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, \"Love Is All Around\", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\".\n\nIn the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.\n \nBoBo released his first ballad, \"Love Is the Price\", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\", performing two songs back to back; \"Freedom\" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad \"Love Is the Price\".\n\n1996–1999: Established popularity\nThe release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.\n\nIn April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\" where he performed his single \"Respect Yourself\".\n\nDJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single \"Where Is Your Love\", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.\n\nIn May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single \"Celebrate\" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his \"Life on Tour\" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\" for the fifth time in a row.\n\n1999–2001\nDJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, \"Together\" and \"Lies\". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's \"Best Selling Artist of the Year\".\n\nWith the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, \"What a Feeling\", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: \"Hard to Say I'm Sorry\" and \"Colors of Life\". BoBo's tour \"Planet Colors – The Show\" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.\n\n2001–2005: 10-year anniversary\n\nAs a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's \"Celebration\", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on \"Where is Your Love\", Melanie Thornton on \"Love of My Life\", Emilia on \"Everybody\", and A Touch of Class on \"Together\". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the \"Best Producers of 2001\"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.\n\nDJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs \"Angel\" and \"Do You Remember\", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.\n\nOne of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be \"Chihuahua\", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for \"Chihuahua\" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.\n\n2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award\n\nBoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called \"Pirates of Dance\" and \"Amazing Life\". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.\n\nBoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single \"Secrets of Love\", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.\n\nOn 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.\n\nIn past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that \"It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that.\"\n\nIn December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: \"Vampires Are Alive\". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.\nDJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, \"Vampires Are Alive\", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, \"We Gotta Hold On\" and \"Because of You\" off the album Vampires.\n\nIn 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, \"Olé Olé\" was chosen over \"Let the Games Begin\". On 11 April 2008, \"Olé Olé\" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit \"Everybody\", and a new version of \"Vampires Are Alive\" titled \"EAPM Remix\".\n\n2008–present\nDJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were \"Superstar\" and \"This Is My Time\".\n\nA new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single \"Everybody's Gonna Dance\".\n\nBoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.\n\nCharitable work\nDJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n Dance with Me (1993)\n There Is a Party (1994)\n Just for You (1995)\n World in Motion (1996)\n Magic (1998)\n Level 6 (1999)\n The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)\n Planet Colors (2001)\n Celebration (2002)\n Visions (2003)\n Live in Concert (2003)\n Pirates of Dance (2005)\n Greatest Hits (2006)\n Sweet Christmas (2006)\n Vampires (2007)\n Olé Olé - The Party (2008)\n Fantasy (2010)\n Dancing Las Vegas (2011)\n Reloaded (2013)\n Circus (2014)\n Mystorial (2016)\n KaleidoLuna (2018)\n Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1968 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Zofingen District\nEurodance musicians\n20th-century Swiss musicians\nEurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland\nEurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007\nSwiss people of Italian descent\nWorld Music Awards winners\nAmbassadors of supra-national bodies\nWorld Food Programme people\n21st-century Swiss musicians\nSwiss rappers\nSwiss pop musicians\nSwiss composers\nSwiss male composers\n20th-century male musicians\n21st-century male musicians",
"\"Secrets of Love\" is a 2006 pop song performed as a duet by Swiss singer DJ BoBo and German singer Sandra. The song was written and produced by DJ BoBo and Axel Breitung.\n\nIt was released on 3 March 2006 to promote DJ BoBo's compilation Greatest Hits and was a commercial success, peaking at no. 5 in Switzerland and no. 13 in Germany. The music video was directed by Robert Bröllochs and filmed in Disneyland Paris.\n\nFormats and track listings\n CD single\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Radio Version) — 3:17\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Club Mix Radio Edit) — 3:59\n\n CD maxi single\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Radio Version) — 3:17\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Club Mix Radio Edit) — 3:59\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Club Mix) — 6:42\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Instrumental) — 3:19\n\"Secrets of Love\" (Video) — 3:19\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \"Secrets of Love\" at Discogs\n\n2006 singles\n2006 songs\nDJ BoBo songs\nSandra (singer) songs\nSongs written by Axel Breitung\nSongs written by DJ BoBo\nVocal duets"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,",
"What position did the album reach on the charts?",
"It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units.",
"Did DJ BoBo tour?",
"Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days,"
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
|
What did he do in 1997?
| 4 |
What did DJ Bobo do in 1997 after the release of his album World in Motion?
|
DJ BoBo
|
The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
|
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year"
|
Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| true |
[
"\"What Did I Do to You?\" is a song recorded by British singer Lisa Stansfield for her 1989 album, Affection. It was written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, and produced by Devaney and Morris. The song was released as the fourth European single on 30 April 1990. It included three previously unreleased songs written by Stansfield, Devaney and Morris: \"My Apple Heart,\" \"Lay Me Down\" and \"Something's Happenin'.\" \"What Did I Do to You?\" was remixed by Mark Saunders and by the Grammy Award-winning American house music DJ and producer, David Morales. The single became a top forty hit in the European countries reaching number eighteen in Finland, number twenty in Ireland and number twenty-five in the United Kingdom. \"What Did I Do to You?\" was also released in Japan.\n\nIn 2014, the remixes of \"What Did I Do to You?\" were included on the deluxe 2CD + DVD re-release of Affection and on People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology. They were also featured on The Collection 1989–2003 box set (2014), including previously unreleased Red Zone Mix by David Morales.\n\nCritical reception\nThe song received positive reviews from music critics. Matthew Hocter from Albumism viewed it as a \"upbeat offering\". David Giles from Music Week said it is \"beautifully performed\" by Stansfield. A reviewer from Reading Eagle wrote that \"What Did I Do to You?\" \"would be right at home on the \"Saturday Night Fever\" soundtrack.\"\n\nMusic video\nA music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Philip Richardson, who had previously directed the videos for \"All Around the World\" and \"Live Together\". It features Stansfield with her kiss curls, dressed in a white outfit and performing with her band on a stage in front of a jumping audience. The video was later published on Stansfield's official YouTube channel in November 2009. It has amassed more than 1,6 million views as of October 2021.\n\nTrack listings\n\n European/UK 7\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK/Japanese CD single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n UK 10\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix) – 5:52\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK 12\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 4:22\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 3:19\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:15\n\n UK 12\" promotional single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Anti Poll Tax Dub) – 6:31\n\n Other remixes\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Red Zone Mix) – 7:45\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nLisa Stansfield songs\n1990 singles\nSongs written by Lisa Stansfield\n1989 songs\nArista Records singles\nSongs written by Ian Devaney\nSongs written by Andy Morris (musician)",
"\"What Would Steve Do?\" is the second single released by Mumm-Ra on Columbia Records, which was released on February 19, 2007. It is a re-recorded version of the self-release they did in April 2006. It reached #40 in the UK Singles Chart, making it their highest charting single.\n\nTrack listings\nAll songs written by Mumm-Ra.\n\nCD\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\"Without You\"\n\n7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"What Would Steve Do? (Floorboard Mix)\"\n\nGatefold 7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\nReferences\n\n2007 singles\nMumm-Ra (band) songs\n2006 songs\nColumbia Records singles"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,",
"What position did the album reach on the charts?",
"It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units.",
"Did DJ BoBo tour?",
"Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days,",
"What did he do in 1997?",
"In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\""
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
| 5 |
Aside from his Platinum and World Music awards for the album World in Motion, are there any other interesting aspects about DJ Bobo in this article?
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DJ BoBo
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The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
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when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998.
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Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| false |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,",
"What position did the album reach on the charts?",
"It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units.",
"Did DJ BoBo tour?",
"Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days,",
"What did he do in 1997?",
"In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\"",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"when he introduced his singing skills first on his single \"Where Is Your Love\", which was released in March, 1998."
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
|
Did the single hit charts?
| 6 |
Did DJ Bobo's single Where is Your Love, released in March 1998, hit charts?
|
DJ BoBo
|
The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
|
in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award
|
Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| false |
[
"\"The Summer Is Magic\" is a song by the Italian Eurodance group Playahitty, released in July 1994 as their debut single. It hit the charts in the summer and autumn that year in several countries of Continental Europe, such as Italy, where the track reached the no. 2 on the Top 40 singles chart. It reached the Top 40 also in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. \n\nThe Italian singer Giovanna Bersola sang the lead vocals for the song, as she did for the 1993 hit \"The Rhythm of the Night\" by the Eurodance Corona music group.\n\nCritical reception\nMusic & Media wrote, \"Just at the moment when summer is over, this Euro dance single with the voice of Corona brings back memories of your holiday in Italy better than any photo album could ever do.\"\n\nChart performance\n\"The Summer Is Magic\" was a major hit on the charts in Europe. It peaked at number 2 in Italy and was a Top 20 hit in Austria, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland . Additionally, it entered the Top 40 in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it reached number 36 in September 1994. It did not chart on the UK Singles Chart. Outside Europe, the single was successful in Israel, peaking at number 7 and in Canada, where it hit number 8 on the RPM Dance chart. It also charted in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.\n\nTrack listings\n\n\t\t\t\n 7\" single, Germany (1994)\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Radio Mix) — 3:44\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Acappella) — 3:39\n\n 12\" single, Italy (1994)\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Gambrinus Club Mix) — 5:20\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Acappella) — 3:39\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Copa Cabana Beach Mix) — 5:31\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Radio Mix) — 3:44\n\n CD single, France & Benelux (1994)\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Radio Mix) — 3:55\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Gambrinus Club Mix) — 5:20\n\n CD maxi-single, Europe (1994)\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Gambrinus Club Mix) — 5:20\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Acapella) — 3:39\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Copa Cabana Beach Mix) — 5:31\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Radio Mix) — 3:44\n\n CD maxi-single - Remix, Germany (1994)\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Alex Party Mix) — 3:57\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Alex Party Heavy Mix) — 5:00\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (D.J. Herbie Mixa Mixa) — 6:26\n \"The Summer is Magic\" (Original Radio Mix) — 3:44\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCover versions\n\nReferences\n\n1994 debut singles\n1994 songs\nPlayahitty songs",
"\"Happy Song\" is a 1983 hit single by Italian disco music act Baby's Gang. The single became a European hit single when covered by German band Boney M. the following year.\n\nBoney M. version\nAfter Boney M.'s return to the charts with a cover of the Italian hit \"Kalimba de Luna\", producer Frank Farian rushed back into the studio to cover another Italian hit single. He invited Boney M.'s original dancer Bobby Farrell to join the group along with a group of children from Rhein-Main Air Base Elementary and Jr. High, credited as The School Rebels, who did the lead vocals together with Reggie Tsiboe. While Bobby Farrell did a rap, original singers Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett did not participate in the recording. Session vocalists La Mama (Patricia Shockley, Madeleine Davis and Judy Cheeks) did the additional female vocals. The single gave the group their final German Top 10 hit single (#7), their first in nearly four years.\n\nReleases\n7\" Single\n\"Happy Song\" - 4:18 / \"School's Out\" (Vocal version) (Farian, Kawohl, Reuter) - 3:15 (Hansa 106 909-100, Germany)\n\n12\" Single\n\"Happy Song\" (Club Mix) 8:30 / \"School's Out\" (Instr.) - 3:04 (Hansa 601 555-213, Germany)\n\nReferences \n\n1983 singles\nBoney M. songs\nItalo disco songs\nSong recordings produced by Frank Farian\nHansa Records singles\nSongs about happiness\n1983 songs"
] |
[
"DJ BoBo",
"1996-1999: Popularity established",
"What happened in 1996?",
"The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts,",
"What position did the album reach on the charts?",
"It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units.",
"Did DJ BoBo tour?",
"Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days,",
"What did he do in 1997?",
"In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the \"World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year\"",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"when he introduced his singing skills first on his single \"Where Is Your Love\", which was released in March, 1998.",
"Did the single hit charts?",
"in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award"
] |
C_d92c56a96af84477b18e1991dfc68bf1_0
|
Did he tour with that album?
| 7 |
Did DJ Bobo tour after his Platinum album Magic was released in April 1998?
|
DJ BoBo
|
The release of the album World in Motion in September, 1996, proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, Rene managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No.3 position in Germany, which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No.1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units, which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, Baumann went on a promotional tour in Asia for twenty days, which was then followed by another one month-tour in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself". DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March, 1998. A month thereafter, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No.1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum-award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No.5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold-award for sales of over 250,000 units. In May of that the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row. CANNOTANSWER
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Rene and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people
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Peter René Baumann (born 5 January 1968), better known under his stage name DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 12 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format. BoBo has also released as many as 34 singles to date, some of which have charted high not only in German speaking countries, but also in other European territories.
As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single "Somebody Dance with Me", which borrows its melody from Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". BoBo charted with the singles "Keep on Dancing", "Take Control", "Everybody", "Let the Dream Come True", "Love Is All Around", "Freedom", "Pray", and "What a Feeling", as well as "Chihuahua", almost all of which comprised fast-paced Eurodance sound with female vocals and rap verses performed by BoBo.
Between 1992 and 2007, he had 27 single chart hits in Switzerland and Germany and has won ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best selling artist. BoBo has received numerous Gold and Platinum certifications for his releases and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany and Switzerland), Asia, and South America.
Biography
1985–1991: Early beginnings
Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland in 1968 to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of breakdancing after his high school graduation. Having been involved in numerous dance-contests, Baumann managed to reach the Top 10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.
Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championships. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland. He gained enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still work as a DJ but focused on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles, "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".
1992–1996: Career breakthrough
Baumann gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance with Me" in November 1992. Employing catchy refrains by Emel Aykanat as well as rap performance by himself, the single shot to number 1 in Switzerland and Sweden, while it landed in the Top 5 in numerous other European countries including Germany. "Somebody Dance with Me" was certified Gold in Germany for selling well over 250,000 units. His second hit, "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the Top 5 both in Switzerland and in Germany, and landed in the Top 10 in other parts of Europe. The single reached Gold status in Germany for sales of 250,000 units. The long-awaited album Dance with Me was released in October 1993 and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time, which was followed by another single, "Take Control", again from his debut album. It earned him yet another Gold award in Germany for sales of over 250,000 units, as the song also entered the Top 20 in numerous countries. While DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders, he released his next single, "Everybody", in the summer of 1994, which climbed as high as No. 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units there. "Everybody" differed from the previously released singles in terms of its structure; it diverged from house, leaning towards a mixture of house and hip hop ("hip house"), with female vocalists performing the chorus and rap verses performed by BoBo.
In the fall of 1994, his second studio album There Is a Party was released. While the album peaked at No. 4 in Switzerland where it was certified Platinum for selling over 50,000 units, it entered the Top 10 in Germany, where it spent total of 26 weeks on the chart, eventually reaching Gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The single "Let the Dream Come True" from the album topped the charts in Switzerland and entered the Top 5 in Germany, where it was certified Gold for sales over 250,000 units. While the follow-up second single, "Love Is All Around", entered the Top 20 in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway, it was certified Gold in Germany being the sixth golden record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in the World Music Awards in Monaco, being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year".
In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place in most parts of Asia, which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo travelled all over Europe performing in front of as many as 400,000 spectators.
BoBo released his first ballad, "Love Is the Price", in January 1996, which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, DJ BoBo again ended up at the World Music Awards in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year", performing two songs back to back; "Freedom" (which was his eighth Gold record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love Is the Price".
1996–1999: Established popularity
The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence in the charts, but with this album, he managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the No. 3 position in Germany and be awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, the album jumped from 0 to No. 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units. It was ranked in the Top 40 albums of all-time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks. Shortly after the release of World in Motion, DJ BoBo went on a promotional tour in Asia for 20 days, which was followed up by a one month-tour in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".
DJ BoBo maintained his original sound and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements when he introduced his singing skills first on his single "Where Is Your Love", which was released in March 1998. A month later, in April 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks in his native country and earned him a Platinum award for sales of over 50,000 units. In Germany, the album peaked at No. 5 and spent total of 21 weeks on the chart, eventually earning the Swiss artist another Gold award for sales of over 250,000 units.
In May of that the same year, BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fourth time. Soon after, his single "Celebrate" was released introducing his The Ultimate Megamix '99. During this time DJ BoBo and his crew were busy preparing for his "Life on Tour" concert as well as the shows of the Magic, which were watched by 250,000 people in 35 concert arenas in Europe. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with yet another World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.
1999–2001
DJ BoBo's sixth album, Level 6, was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the No. 1 position in the Swiss album charts. It eventually went Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany for sales of over 150,000 units. Two singles were released off this album, "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued, as once again in the spring of 2000, he received yet another trophy at the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's "Best Selling Artist of the Year".
With the help of his co-producer Axel Breitung, BoBo managed to complete his next album, Planet Colors, released on 5 February 2001. The first single, "What a Feeling", features American singer Irene Cara and is a cover version of Cara's original hit Flashdance... What a Feeling. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 11 in Austria, and No. 3 in Germany. Two other singles were followed: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Colors of Life". BoBo's tour "Planet Colors – The Show" was a big hit and was followed by more than one million spectators within Europe.
2001–2005: 10-year anniversary
As a way of celebrating his 10-year anniversary in the music business, DJ BoBo made the cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration", reviving it with modern instrumentation. The single was to represent his collection album consisting of previous hits, which he also entitled Celebration. The album Celebration, released in April 2002, comprised the previous hits all of which were re-recorded featuring mostly German renowned artists such as No Angels on "Where is Your Love", Melanie Thornton on "Love of My Life", Emilia on "Everybody", and A Touch of Class on "Together". Besides DJ BoBo being Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist at the World Music Awards in 2002 for the seventh time, in 2002, BoBo and co-producer Axel Breitung were recognised as the "Best Producers of 2001"during the Echo awards for being the most-talented musical team.
DJ BoBo's next studio album called Visions, released in February 2003, brought a new side to his music, which aside from the usual dance-sounds, portrayed him with more acoustic elements. Examples of this are the songs "Angel" and "Do You Remember", wherein guitars replaced the usual synthesizers. The Album Visions peaked at No. 3 in Switzerland and eventually became a Platinum record in the country. In 2003, BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.
One of BoBo's most successful singles turned out to be "Chihuahua", which was initially released in 2002 and later re-released Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain, as they were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing song for their new campaign. The track was completed within a period of ten days. It took only a couple of weeks for "Chihuahua" to reach No. 1 on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually reached No. 1 in both Switzerland and France. It was certified Platinum in Switzerland for sales of over 40,000 units, and in France reached a Diamond status for sales of over one million units.
2005–2008: Eurovision Song Contest and 10th World Music Award
BoBo's next studio album, Pirates of Dance, was released in February 2005, and included two singles called "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". The album shot straight to No. 1 in Switzerland. BoBo and his crew began the Pirates of Dance Tour in April 2005. They took off in Switzerland, followed by Germany and Poland, which concluded with two concerts in Disneyland and Paris. 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.
BoBo released his greatest hits album in 2006, which contained reworked versions of some of his previous songs, and some remaining in their original package. The single "Secrets of Love", which was released before the album, was a pop-dance duet with 1980s star Sandra. The song's music video was filmed at Disney Resort Paris. His greatest hits compilation eventually earned BoBo a Gold certification in Switzerland.
On 11 October 2006, DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
In past years, Switzerland's entry had not always been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ BoBo's press conference, he told reporters that "It's a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that."
In December 2006, the Swiss TV council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki, Finland. Following the selection, the council was criticised for not being fair towards lesser known Swiss artists. On 21 February 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video for the contest: "Vampires Are Alive". Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on 12 May. It finished twentieth out of 28 semi-finalists.
DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on 11 May 2007, which climbed as high as No. 2 on the Swiss album chart. The first single, "Vampires Are Alive", reached No. 3 in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German-speaking countries, but gained success in Finland, where it reached No. 7. Two other singles were released, "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You" off the album Vampires.
In 2007, BoBo was chosen to sing the official 2008 UEFA European Football Championship song. On his website, BoBo presented a poll to choose which song out of two would be the official song. Eventually, "Olé Olé" was chosen over "Let the Games Begin". On 11 April 2008, "Olé Olé" was released as a single, being accompanied by an album called Olé Olé – Party. The album included five new songs, nine party hits, a medley, a newly remixed version of BoBo's hit "Everybody", and a new version of "Vampires Are Alive" titled "EAPM Remix".
2008–present
DJ BoBo's album Fantasy was released on 26 February 2010. It peaked at No. 2 in Switzerland and was certified Gold for selling over 15,000 units. The two singles released off the album were "Superstar" and "This Is My Time".
A new release from BoBo, entitled Dancing Las Vegas, was released on 25 November 2011. The album contains 13 tracks and comes with a DVD which is composed of six parts, including the video clip of the previously released single "Everybody's Gonna Dance".
BoBo released another studio album called Circus on 10 January 2014, followed by Mystorial in 2016 and KaleidoLuna in 2018. As with BoBo's previous studio albums, Circus and Mystorial charted in the Top 5 in Switzerland, while KaleidoLuna charted at No. 9.
Charitable work
DJ BoBo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.
Discography
Studio albums
Dance with Me (1993)
There Is a Party (1994)
Just for You (1995)
World in Motion (1996)
Magic (1998)
Level 6 (1999)
The Ultimate Megamix '99 (1999)
Planet Colors (2001)
Celebration (2002)
Visions (2003)
Live in Concert (2003)
Pirates of Dance (2005)
Greatest Hits (2006)
Sweet Christmas (2006)
Vampires (2007)
Olé Olé - The Party (2008)
Fantasy (2010)
Dancing Las Vegas (2011)
Reloaded (2013)
Circus (2014)
Mystorial (2016)
KaleidoLuna (2018)
Remixes & Unreleased Tracks (2020)
References
External links
1968 births
Living people
People from Zofingen District
Eurodance musicians
20th-century Swiss musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Switzerland
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Swiss people of Italian descent
World Music Awards winners
Ambassadors of supra-national bodies
World Food Programme people
21st-century Swiss musicians
Swiss rappers
Swiss pop musicians
Swiss composers
Swiss male composers
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians
| false |
[
"Height Keech is the stage name of Baltimore rapper and podcaster Dan Keech (born September 22, 1981). He is best known as the founder and frontman for the group Height With Friends. Before forming Height With Friends, he released three solo albums and six EPs between 2000 and 2009. Keech interviews artists and musicians on his weekly podcast Height Zone World, which debuted in July 2014.\n\nHistory\n\nWounds\n\nHeight began rapping in the Baltimore-based Wounds, a five man group with Jones, Mickey Free, Shields and Chris Freeland. After releasing two cassette-only EP's, Wounds released one self-titled full length album in December 1999. They did a two-week tour in June 2000. Wounds continued occasionally playing shows around the east coast until 2001, when they disbanded as a live act.\n\nSelf-Titled Solo Debut and Tour\n\nIn August 2000, Height joined the indie hip-hop group Dogg and Pony, for their tour with San Francisco punk band The Deepthroats. Height wrote part of his first solo album during the tour, and the members of Dogg and Pony offered to put out the album on Dogg Pony Records. Shortly after the tour, Height did his first solo show, opening for Animal Collective at The Cooler in Brooklyn.\n\nThe first Height album was recorded in September 2000. Production was handled by all members of the Wounds crew, with vocal assistance by Grand Buffet, The Plural MC and MC Dogg. The album was supported by a six-week tour with Grand Buffet in November and December 2000. Due to internal strife at the label, the album ended up not coming out in time for the tour. Height did another midwestern tour with Jones in August 2001.\n\nAfter that tour, Height went on a hiatus from solo shows. He occasionally performed as a hype man for Cex, but he didn't play his own material again for over a year. In October 2002, Height was featured on three tracks from Cex's Tall, Dark and Handcuffed, on Tigerbeat6 Records. This was the first nationally distributed record of which Height was a part.\n\nI Have A Gun/Bow and Height\n\nIn July 2003, Height released his second album, I Have A Gun. The production was handled almost entirely by Shields, with recording and mixing by Zach Poff. Height did one solo tour to promote the album.\n\nShortly after, Height joined Mickey Free (a.k.a. Bow n' Arrow) to form Bow and Height. They became a duo, performing each other's solo songs, as well as some new collaborations. They did five tours throughout 2004, touring the US and Canada with Dan Deacon, Lost It, Grand Buffet and Oxes.\n\nIn December 2004, Bow and Height disbanded. Height returned to performing as a solo act, starting with a northeastern tour with Dan Deacon.\n\nSolo Touring\n\nIn February 2005, Height set out on a 50-day tour with Dan Deacon. Halfway through the trip, Height's car was totaled in Fresno, California. He flew back to Baltimore, while Dan Deacon completed part of the tour by Greyhound bus. They met up again in Pittsburgh, where they completed the last ten days of the tour together, along with Mickey Free.\n\nIn the fall of that year, Jones became an occasional part of Height's live set, DJing and adding effects to Height's vocals. Jones would join on for two out of the five Height tours that occurred throughout 2005-2006.\n\nRound Robin Tours\n\nIn October 2006, Height toured as part of the Wham City Round Robin Tour, once again with Jones as DJ.\n\nIn 2008, toured again as part of The Baltimore Round Robin tour, this time with Jones and King Rhythm as his band mates.\n\nSince 2006, Height has been putting together an annual event called the All Rap Round Robin, in Baltimore.\n\nUtility Fog\n\nIn Fall 2006, Height released a short-run EP of rarities, called Utility Fog. He would go on to release four EP's in the Utility Fog series, releasing the final EP of the series in 2009.\n\nWinterize The Game\n\nIn February 2007, Height released the full length album, Winterize The Game, on Grand Man Records. This was the first Height album to be recorded and mixed entirely by Mickey Free.\n\nDuring this time, Jones had become a full-time part of the live show. He joined Height for three coast-to-coast US tours, a Canadian tour, two east coast tours, and many regional other local /regional shows. For two of those tours, King Rhythm was also part of the show, triggering samples live and doing back-up vocals.\n\nPerforming with Grand Buffet\n\nIn March 2007, Height accompanied Grand Buffet for their week of shows opening for Of Montreal. Only meant as a road trip, the trip resulted in Height becoming a part of the Grand Buffet's set, performing the Grand Buffet/Height collaborations, \"Bad Weather\" and \"These Dreams are Fucked.\" Throughout 2007 and 2008, Height would regularly perform as part of Grand Buffet's show, for their tours with Of Montreal, MGMT and Streetlght Manifesto.\n\nHeight With Friends\n\nIn December 2008, Height began performing with Mickey Free, Emily Slaughter and Travis Allen. They began billing themselves as Height With Friends. The name change was intended to help present the project as an official band, without distancing themselves from the earlier Height material. The name change was also meant to acknowledge a new, more collaborative production style.\n\nAlthough they continued to perform some older Height songs, their new songs were specifically created to be performed live, by multiple vocalists. The line-up would change frequently. In addition to the original cast, they would also be joined by Gavin Riley, Brendan Richmond, Liz Aeby, Cathy Cathodic, Bob O'Brien and Plucky Walker of Flesh Epic.\n\nBaltimore Highlands\n\nBaltimore Highlands, the first record under the name Height With Friends, was released on Wham City Records in January 2009. The album was created by a more collaborative approach, with multiple producers working together on most tracks. In an interview about the album with Butterteam.com, Jones described the album's production as being like a \"chain letter,\" with each producer adding an element and passing it on to someone else.\n\nIn May 2009, the album was supported by the Wham City Records Is Real Tour, with Ed Schrader. They went on three other tours supporting the album that year, with Nuclear Power Pants, Thank You, Future Islands and Lord Grunge as tour mates.\n\nThis album was followed by the release of the Baltimore Highlands Remix Album, which was released in October 2009. It contained remixes by Tobacco, San Serac, Lesser Gonzalez, Drew Swinburne, Cex, Ms. Paintbursh, PT Burnem, King Rhythm, Jones, AK, LOWD, DJ Authentic, Gavin Riley and Al Lover.\n\nBed of Seeds\n\nBed of Seeds was written, recorded and mixed between Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. Much of the recording took place during a ten-day session in a makeshift studio in a cabin in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. The album's production was financed by Normative Records. The label folded as the album was being mixed, but the record was picked up by Friends Records and released in May 2010.\n\nThis is the first Height With Friends project largely created with live instruments. The majority of the album's songs stray from the beats and rhymes format, employing chord structures and production styles from other forms of music. The rhyme schemes themselves sometimes resemble folk or pop verses, more than they do standard sixteen bar rap verses.\n\nThe album was initially promoted with a two-month tour in April and May 2010. The April portion of the tour was with Nuclear Power Pants. Due to problems at the pressing plant, the vinyl was not available until the tail end of the tour. They continued promoting the album with two more short tours in 2010, then a 51-day tour in February 2011. For their last tour in support of Bed Of Seeds, Height With Friends joined PT Burnem for The Rap Ambassadors Tour. The tour went to Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Croatia and France.\n\nShark Tank\n\nShark Tank is a side project that pairs Height with Lord Grunge, Mickey Free and Brendan Richmond.\nIn February 2011, Shark Tank released their debut self-titled album. They did a small run of east coast shows to support the release.\n\nVideos\n\nHeight With Friends has four videos, and Height has one video of this solo material. The video for their song \"Mike Stone,\" was directed by Justin Barnes and produced by Team G. It was nominated for an award for Best Music Video at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival.\n\nHeight Zone World Podcast\n\nKeech interviews mostly Baltimore artists and musicians for his podcast. Each episode is hosted on Spilce Today and features an original homage album cover by Mike Riley. It has been streaming weekly since June 2014 and has featured such guests as Jenn Wasner, Dan Deacon, Sam Herring, Girl Talk, and Ed Schrader.\n\nDiscography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n Height Zone World Podcast\n\nRappers from Baltimore\nLiving people\n1981 births\n21st-century American rappers",
"Death Hawks is a Finnish psychedelic rock band formed in 2011.\n\nHistory\n\nDeath Hawks was put together in the spring of 2010 to arrange and record songs by singer Teemu Markkula, but it soon metamorphosed into a solid band. Death Hawks played its first show with a complete lineup in April 2011.\n\nDeath Hawks’ intense live shows, with their psychedelic meanderings, soon created an organic hype around the band. Death Hawks recorded their debut album “Death & Decay” in the summer of 2011 and it was released in February 2012 through Tampere-based GAEA records.\nDeath & Decay received generally good reviews and the music media noticed the new and young psychedelic rock band singing about dark subjects (usually addressed by heavier bands) combining e.g. blues and krautrock to a folkier songwriting with their psychedelic way. Media started to talk about the band as a future Finnish music export name. Death & Decay reached number 10 on Finnish album charts.\n\nAfter the record release the band continued to do shows with a more frequent pace touring all over Finland and from January 2013 on touring across Europe too. In January the band did a week long Swedish tour and some shows in The Netherlands. In April 2013 Death Hawks did a small Finnish tour with Graveyard (band) from Sweden and in May participated in Fullsteam Ahead Tour (organised together by Makia Clothing and Lapin Kulta) which featured selected Finnish bands touring with a steamboat in the Finnish archipelago. A document film was released from the tour.\nIn the winter and spring of 2013 Death Hawks also started the recording of their sophomore album.\n\nThe self-titled second album came out September 2013 from GAEA Records. The album “Death Hawks” reached number 15 on Finnish album charts. \nAfter some shows in Finland Death Hawks joined the German hard rock band Kadavar for their tour in Germany and Austria in October 2013. January 2014 Death Hawks did a short Scandinavian tour followed by two gigs in Oslo, Norway where the album “Death Hawks” was among the top 10 finalists nominated for Nordic Music Prize 2013 (an annual award for the Best Nordic Album Of The Year). \nDeath Hawks’ second album got also nominated in Emma gala 2014 (the “Finnish Grammys”) and it was chosen as the best album of 2013 by Soundi magazine.\n\nIn May 2014 the band did their first longer European tour including Sweden, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. In summer they performed near every weekend playing the biggest festivals in Finland and also stopping by in Sweden and Russia. \nOctober 2014 Death Hawks toured Germany and later that year performed in UK, Poland and France.\n\nIn the beginning of 2015 Death Hawks started to write new material for their third studio album. In April they had a brief break from studio work to play at Roadburn Festival in Netherlands. In May the band headed to Suomenlinna Studios with producer Janne Lastumäki and engineer Ilari Larjosto. By the end of the summer the album was ready to be sent to press. In that summer Death Hawks also did some shows in Finland, Germany and Sweden. On November 13, 2015 the album Sun Future Moon was released through Svart Records. In November and December the band also did a vast tour of Finland and a smaller tour in Norway. In Finland they toured with the experimental rock band Circle (band).\n\nThe year 2016 was all about playing shows and touring for Death Hawks. They played close to a hundred shows and did three wider tours that year. In March they did a Finnish tour and in April Death Hawks embarked on a month long European Tour called Cobra Run 2016. After that the band played a lot of summer festivals and in September they headed back to Central Europe and Scandinavia for a couple of weeks. The rest of the year Death Hawks continued playing shows and did a couple also with the Swedish Blues Pills.\n\nThe members of Death Hawks also had a previous band together in 2005-2007 called Genzale.\nThis band featured all of the members from Death Hawks plus a second guitarist Niko Matiskainen. \nGenzale recorded one promotional album in 2006 which consisted of eight songs and was never released officially.\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n Death & Decay (Gaea Records) (2012)\n Death Hawks (Gaea Records) (2013)\n Sun Future Moon (Svart Records) (2015)\n Psychic Harmony (Svart Records) (2019)\n\nEP's and Singles\n Humanoids - single\" (Digital single Gaea Records) (2013)\n Death Hawks / Kiki Pau - Split 7\" (Promotional release by Music Finland) (2013)\n The song \"Buddiman\" by Death Hawks was released on Vähän multaa päälle compilation album (Fonal Records) (2012)\n\nBand members \nCurrent members\nTeemu Markkula – vocals, guitar \nRiku Pirttiniemi – bass, vocals\nTenho Mattila – keyboards, synthesizers, saxophone\nMiikka Heikkinen – drums, percussion\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nDeath Hawks in Alt Agency & Management's roster\nhttp://www.deathhawks.com/\nDeath Hawks in last.fm\nDeath Hawks album review on The Line Of Best Fit\n\nFinnish rock music groups\nMusical quartets\n2011 establishments in Finland"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit"
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
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What is Megan Fox currently doing?
| 1 |
What is Megan Fox doing since 2009?
|
Megan Fox
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Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
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Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
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Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
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[
"Alice Next Door is an Irish children's novel written by Judi Curtin and illustrated by Woody Fox. It was first published in 2005 by O'Brien Press. It is the first of the Alice and Megan series.\n\nPlot summary\nThe story revolves around an Irish twelve-year-old girl called Megan Sheehan, whose best friend, Alice O'Rourke, has just moved away from Limerick to Dublin with her younger brother Jamie and her domineering mother. Megan enters sixth class on her own and finds it hard to cope with no friends.\n\nAlthough Megan can e-mail Alice and call her every Saturday, she has difficulties dealing with her exasperating mother and arch-enemy Melissa on her own. Megan is humiliated when her stingy, non-consumerist mother Sheila Sheehan orders her to petition for a park to be kept. To make up for this, Sheila takes Megan to Dublin for five and a half hours, where she can spend the day with Alice.\n\nAt the end of this day, Alice tells Megan she has a plan to move herself back to Limerick, and promises to tell Megan the next time she sees her.\n\nOnce the Hallowe'en holidays come around, Alice travels down to Limerick for three days to stay with her father, Megan's next-door neighbour. Here Alice reveals her plan. She will stay in Megan's house for the whole week without any parents knowing - Alice's father thinking she is in Dublin, Alice's mother thinking she is with Mr O'Rourke.\n\nAlice stays in Megan's bedroom the whole week, telling her mother that she is too sick to come home on the train. Megan manages to stash food away for her, like Pot Noodles, but over the week Alice gets more and more irritated and Megan realises how hard it is for her to have divorced parents.\n\nAlice's mother comes down to Limerick when she discovers her daughter is not at Mr O'Rourke's house. She enters the Sheehan home with her ex-husband, find Alice and takes her back to Dublin. Megan is extremely upset.\n\nIn the end they make it work. Alice comes down for the holidays and they still stay best friends forever.\n\nCharacters\n Megan Sheehan: The protagonist of the Alice and Megan series. Megan is shy and sometimes lets Alice take charge over her.\n Alice O'Rourke: Megan's best friend\n Sheila Sheehan : Megan's environmental crazy mother\n Miss O'Herily: Megan's teacher\n\nBooks in the series\n Alice Next Door (2005)\n Alice Again (2006)\n Don't Ask Alice (2007)\n Alice in the Middle (2007)\n Bonjour Alice (2008)\n Alice and Megan Forever (2008)\n Alice to the Rescue (2009)\n\n The Alice and Megan Cookbook (2010)\n\nReferences\n\n2005 Irish novels\nIrish children's novels\nNovels set in Dublin (city)\nO'Brien Press books\n2005 children's books",
"Midnight in the Switchgrass is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed by Randall Emmett in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Alan Horsnail. It stars Megan Fox, Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch, Lukas Haas, Colson Baker and Lydia Hull.\n\nIt was released on July 23, 2021, by Lionsgate and was critically panned upon release.\n\nSynopsis\nBased on the true story of Texas' most dangerous serial killer with the dramatization translocated to Florida. FBI agent Karl Helter and his partner, Rebecca Lombardi, are very close to busting a sex-trafficking ring. When they realize their investigation has crossed the path of a brutal serial killer, they team up with Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Byron Crawford who has years on this case. When Rebecca herself is abducted by their target and her life hangs in the balance, Byron has precious few hours to piece together the last clues and put an end to the infamous \"Truck Stop Killer\".\n\nCast\n Megan Fox as Rebecca Lombardi\n Emile Hirsch as Byron Crawford\n Bruce Willis as Karl Helter\n Lukas Haas as Peter \n Colson Baker as Calvin\n Sistine Stallone as Heather\n Michael Beach as Detective Yarbrough\n Caitlin Carmichael as Tracey Lee\n Alec Monopoly as Suspect / Tall Man\n Welker White as Ms. Georgia Kellogg\n Jackie Cruz as Suzanna\n\nProduction\nOn January 22, 2020, it was announced that film producer Randall Emmett would make his directorial debut on the film, with Emile Hirsch set to star. Megan Fox and Bruce Willis were added to the cast on February 16, with filming beginning on March 9 in Pensacola, FL. On March 12, 2020, Lukas Haas, Colson Baker, Sistine Stallone, Caitlin Carmichael, Michael Beach, Welker White, Alec Monopoly and Jackie Cruz joined the cast of the film. On March 16, production on the film was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production on the film resumed on June 29.\n\nRelease\n\nMidnight in the Switchgrass had its world premiere on June 13, 2021, at the Tampa Theatre where it was the closing night film of the Gasparilla International Film Festival. In attendance were Randall Emmett, Alan Horsnail, Timothy C. Sullivan, Lukas Haas, Emile Hirsch, Caitlin Carmichael, and Katalina Viteri. The screening was followed by a 40-minute Q & A moderated by Tyler Martinolich.\n\nThe film was later released on July 23, 2021, by Lionsgate. Megan Fox did not attend the film's Los Angeles premiere citing concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Machine Gun Kelly didn't respond, but on Twitter he mentioned that when he doesn't talk about a movie, it's because it's trash. In response, Emile Hirsch posted a screenshot of Machine Gun Kelly's tweet on Instagram saying:\"We definitely disagree here, Colson![Machine Gun Kelly] Nothing but respect to you guys though - especially because you and Megan are so f#*king great in this movie.\"\n\nReception\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 8% approval rating, based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads: \"Dull and predictable, Midnight in the Switchgrass squanders an evocative setting and some committed performances on a would-be thriller that rarely raises a sweat.\" On Metacritic, it has a score of 24 out of 100, based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating \"generally unfavorable reviews\".\n\nRobert Kojder of Flickering Myth said that \"the fact that Midnight in the Switchgrass is an all-around terrible movie comes as no surprise, but there is a sting since for star Megan Fox, it's coming off a career-best and physically impressive performance in Till Death.\" Jackie K. Cooper rated the film 5 out of 10 saying that \"Megan Fox steals the show while Bruce Willis is missing in action.\"\n\nIn his review for The New York Times, Ben Kenigsberg said that \"the atmosphere is thoroughly sleazy without being distinctive, and everything about the movie - the emotionless line readings, the half-baked back stories - exudes a terse functionality.\" Waldemar Dalenogare Neto rated the film 2 out of 10 saying that it is one of the \"most generic thrillers of the year (...) I really don't know yet what the purpose of this film is other than the fact that it tries to profit from Megan Fox's image and Bruce Willis\".\n\nIn a positive review for the San Jose Mercury News, Randy Myers said that \"it's worth a watch if you like serial killer thrillers but don't expect to see anything revolutionary going on.\"\n\nJesse Hassenger was less complimentary in his review for Paste Magazine saying that it looks like the filmmakers are trying to punish Megan Fox for her performance in Till Death, and concluded: \"It’s entirely because of Fox that Switchgrass stays compelling far longer than it should, raising vain hopes that she’ll be able to work it into something pulpier and more defined. Despite the eventual disappointment, I hope she sticks with genre fare a bit longer, and finds some more shackles to break.\"\n\nAccolades\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nAmerican films\nAmerican crime thriller films\n2021 directorial debut films\nFilms set in 2004\nFilms set in Florida\nFilms shot in Puerto Rico\nFilm productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic\n2021 crime thriller films"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit",
"What is Megan Fox currently doing?",
"Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows."
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
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Did she appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?
| 2 |
Other than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies did Megan Fox appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?
|
Megan Fox
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Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
| false |
[
"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games have been produced since 1989, largely by Japanese video game manufacturer Konami.\n\nEarlier games were mostly based on the 1987 TV series, with elements borrowed from the movies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, action figures and the original Mirage comic books and role-playing books. Several games released in the 2000s were based on the 2003 TV series and the 2007 film. A number of games released in the following decade have been based on the 2012 TV series, the 2014 film, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.\n\n, the first eleven TMNT video games had sold units worldwide, earning nearly in sales revenue.\n\nList\n\nSee also\n List of video games based on comics\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n \"Free Fan-Made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Game Is A Fun Throw-Back\", Kotaku\n\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video Games\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video Games\nAndroid (operating system) games\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video Games\nVideo games about ninja\n \nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\nVideo game franchises introduced in 1989\nVideo games",
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an entertainment franchise about a group of anthropomorphic turtles who fight evil.\n\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may also refer to:\n\nComics\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Studios), original Mirage Studios comic book series\n Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mirage Studios anthology comic book series\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Archie Comics comic book series\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (comic strip), Creators Syndicate comic strip\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Publishing), IDW Publishing comic book series\n\nTelevision\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series), known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series)\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)\nRise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018 TV series)\n\nFilm\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in film\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film), 1990\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, 1991\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, 1993\n TMNT (film), 2007\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film), 2014\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, 2016\n\nVideo games\n\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade game) (US) aka Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Europe), a 1989 arcade game\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES video game), a 1989 video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (pinball), a 1991 pinball machine\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Game Boy Advance), 2003 (GBA)\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 video game), 2003 (GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox)\n TMNT (Game Boy Advance), 2007 (GBA)\n TMNT (video game), 2007 (GameCube, NDS, PC, PS2, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 video game), 2014 (Android, iOS, 3DS)\n\nGames\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (RPG), 1985 pen and paper role playing game\n\nMusic\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1990\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1991\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1993\n TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (soundtrack), 2007\n\nSee also\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures\n Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles food tie-ins"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit",
"What is Megan Fox currently doing?",
"Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.",
"Did she appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
|
What other movies has she appeared in since 2009?
| 3 |
Other than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, what other movies has Megan Fox appeared in since 2009?
|
Megan Fox
|
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
|
In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40.
|
Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
| false |
[
"Gudrun Landgrebe (; born 20 June 1950) is a German actress.\n\nLandgrebe was born in Göttingen, grew up in Bochum, and attended theatre school in Cologne from 1968 until 1971. In 1971 she made her debut at Stadttheater Bielefeld. She also appeared in Heimat as the character Klärchen Sisse. Since 1981 she has frequently appeared in German movies - her first film role was in the comedy . In 1983 she gained international fame in the Robert van Ackerens movie Die flambierte Frau. Further movies such as Istvan Szabo's Oberst Redl (1985), Yerma (1984) and Burkhard Driest's (1984) followed. In 1985 she appeared alongside Kevin McNally in Liliana Cavani's The Berlin Affair.\n\nShe appeared in 1998 in the TV movie Opera Ball with Heiner Lauterbach and Franka Potente. In 1997 she was in , with Mario Adorf, Veronica Ferres, Heiner Lauterbach, Jan Josef Liefers and Götz George, directed by Helmut Dietl.\n\nLandgrebe has been married to Dr. Ulrich von Nathusius since June 2001 and lives in Hunsrück.\n\nSelected filmography\n\nExternal links \n \n \n\n1950 births\nLiving people\nActors from Göttingen\nGerman stage actresses\nGerman film actresses\nGerman television actresses\n20th-century German actresses\n21st-century German actresses",
"Rebecca Lord (born in 1973) is a French pornographic actress who has been active since 1993. After moving to the U.S., she achieved popularity in the porn industry there. She has appeared in over 200 porn movies (as of 2007). She is the owner of Rebecca Lord Productions. In 2013, Rebecca Lord was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.\n\nEarly years\nOriginally from Paris, France, Lord attended parochial school while growing up, an experience she says led her to become a resolute atheist. As a young adult, she was a make-up artist, until 1993, when she answered a newspaper ad seeking a model for a pornographic movie directed by Patrice Cabanel. In her earliest movies, she appeared under the names \"Rebecca Carre\" and \"Rebecca Bruns\". In 1994, French director David Caroll gave her the stage name \"Rebecca Lords\" as a reference to Traci Lords. While listing her name in the credits, however, he mistakenly omitted the \"S\", and her name became \"Rebecca Lord\", which she has used ever since.\n\nCareer rise\nIn 1994, Lord was discovered by Swedish porn director Nic Cramer and appeared in two of his videos, Euro-max 2 and Euro-max 3. This introduced her to the American porn industry. She soon left France for Los Angeles and quickly established herself in the porn industry there. She has since appeared in over 200 porn movies (as of 2007). Lord has directed and produced several of the videos she has starred in, through her company, Rebecca Lord Productions, as well as actively maintaining an internet paysite. She became much less active in porn movies after 2003, though, in several posts on her website (in July 2004, November 2005, and March 2007), Lord denied rumors that she had retired.\n\nShe has used condoms in some of her sex scenes with men and has noted that the pressure on actresses to work without condoms has caused her some difficulty in the industry. Throughout her entire porn career, she has been married to the same man, who she has been together with since the age of 17.\n\nIn 2013, Rebecca Lord was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.\n\nOther work\nIn 1998, Lord appeared in the music video for the George Michael song \"Outside\". She has also appeared on The Howard Stern Show twice in November 1999 and once in June 2001. The last appearance was particularly notable for comments Lord and Stern made about the Catholic Church, which led the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to call for Miller Brewing to drop its sponsorship of the show. (Miller chose not to drop its advertising from the show.)\n\nIn 2005, she made a breakthrough into non-pornographic cinema, co-starring in the 2005 independent film I Am a Sex Addict. Lord plays the first wife of director and star Caveh Zahedi, whom Zahedi claims bore a striking resemblance to Lord. In one scene where Zahedi breaks from the narrative and addresses the audience directly, he announces his discovery over an internet site that co-star Rebecca Lord was a porn actress and escort, something he claims not to have known when he first hired Lord for the role. (The subject of the film was Zahedi's addiction to prostitutes.)\n\nDuring her time in the US, Lord has lived in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New York City. As of 2007, she has lived in France for several years. She has stated that Las Vegas and New York are two favorite cities and that she plans to move back to one or the other city in the future.\n\nShe published her autobiography, To My Dear Civilians, With Love, (co-authored by Brian Whitney) in February 2016.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n1973 births\nLiving people\nFrench atheists\nFrench pornographic film actresses"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit",
"What is Megan Fox currently doing?",
"Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.",
"Did she appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?",
"I don't know.",
"What other movies has she appeared in since 2009?",
"In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40."
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
|
Has she done any TV shows?
| 4 |
Has Megan Fox done any TV shows?
|
Megan Fox
|
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
|
She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken,
|
Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
| false |
[
"Siw Anita Andersen (born 27 April 1966) is a Norwegian actress and comedian, from Oslo. She is probably best known to Norwegian viewers through her role as \"Målfrid\" in the TV sitcom \"Mot i brøstet\". In addition to this she has also acted in other TV-shows such as \"Nissene på låven\" (2001), as well as movie roles. She had her big screen debut in 1989 with the movie Showbiz, and later also had a role in Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon (1991). Andersen has also done stand-up and variety shows, and in 2002 won the Leif Juster honorary award, named after legendary Norwegian comedian Leif Juster. In 2002 she was also awarded Komiprisen (\"The Comedy Prize\") as best female comedian. She has had several roles in plays at Oslo Nye Teater.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nInterview on Aftenposten.\n\n1966 births\nLiving people\nActresses from Oslo\nNorwegian television actresses\nNorwegian film actresses\nNorwegian women comedians",
"Sanna Cecilia Lundell (born 6 November 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish freelance journalist and television presenter. She is the daughter of the singer Ulf Lundell. She has done journalistic work for the magazines Mama, M-Magasin, Hennes, and the Aftonbladet newspaper. She has also been working as a television presenter at TV3 with shows such as Sanning och konsekvens along with Robert Aschberg, and Stalkers with Hasse Aro. Since June 2013 she has been presenting the documentary series TV3 Dokumentär. She participated as a celebrity contestant in Let's Dance 2019, which was broadcast on TV4\n\nLundell is in a relationship with actor Mikael Persbrandt and the couple have three children together. She also has one child from a previous relationship with Wille Crafoord.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1978 births\nLiving people\nSwedish television hosts\nSwedish women television presenters\nSwedish women journalists\n21st-century Swedish journalists\nJournalists from Stockholm"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit",
"What is Megan Fox currently doing?",
"Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.",
"Did she appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?",
"I don't know.",
"What other movies has she appeared in since 2009?",
"In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40.",
"Has she done any TV shows?",
"She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken,"
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
|
Did she do any other type of theater?
| 5 |
Other than the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken, did Megan Fox do any other type of theater?
|
Megan Fox
|
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
|
Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie".
|
Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
| true |
[
"Fernanda de Freitas Sahdo (born February 25, 1980) is a Brazilian actress.\n\nCareer \n\nFernanda was a ballet teacher for 14 years. At age 19, she quit the gym where she worked as a ballet teacher and left her hometown of São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, to go and live in Rio de Janeiro. In Rio, she began her career as one of the Zodiac Girls Planeta Xuxa program in 2000. She has done numerous advertising campaigns, working as a Ford agency model and studying theater at Casa de Arte das Laranjeiras.\n\nShe has made the cover of Melee, and did a test site for the Paparazzo.\n\nFernanda debuted as an actress in the Coração de Estudante, the role of Heloísa. Then in 2003 she took over the presentation of TV Globinho, along with other actresses.\n\nOn television, Fernando de Freitas also participated, novels Kubanacan (2003), Como uma Onda (2004), Bang Bang (2005), Pé na Jaca (2006), Negócio da China (2008).\n\nThe actress was in the A Turma do Didi, in the Malhação series, Casos e Acasos (2008), S.O.S. Emergência (2009/2010), in the special Por Toda a Minha Vida (2008), in the program Cilada (2009), in the miniseries Decamerão - A Comédia do Sexo (2009), Programa Piloto (2009).\n\nIn film, Fernanda debuted in Cidade Baixa (2005). Then he Zuzu Angel (2006), Tropa de Elite (2007), A Casa da Mãe Joana (2008), of Malu de Bicicleta (2011).\n\nIn the theater, Fernanda de Freitas served on A Ver Estrelas (2008).\n\nIn 2011, Fernanda de Freitas on the show Tapas & Beijos and continues to play Ensina-me a Viver, on display since 2008.\n\nFilmography\n\nTelevision\n\nFilm\n\nTheater\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1980 births\nLiving people\nPeople from São José do Rio Preto\nBrazilian television actresses\nBrazilian telenovela actresses\nBrazilian film actresses\nBrazilian stage actresses",
"The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is a 200+ seat courtyard-style theater in Meredith, New Hampshire, United States, in the heart of New Hampshire's Lakes Region. The Playhouse produces both a professional summer stock season and a community theater season, and is arguably the only theater in the United States to do so. The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is the recipient of 46 New Hampshire Theater Awards over the past eight years, more than any other theater in the state during this time period, and in 2009 it was selected by New Hampshire Magazine as the best professional theater in New Hampshire. In 2013 the Playhouse moved from Weirs Beach in Laconia to the former Annalee Dolls campus in Meredith. The new theater has 200 seats as well as support spaces such as offices, dressing rooms, and a lobby, which the previous theater did not have.\n\nHistory\nThe Winnipesaukee Playhouse was founded in 2004 by brother and sister Bryan Halperin and Lesley Pankhurst and their spouses, Johanna and Neil. They opened the Playhouse in the Alpenrose Plaza (the former Dexter Shoes outlet plaza) in the village of Weirs Beach in the city of Laconia, New Hampshire. The theater started with a professional summer stock season, and continued with community theater and children's theater during the rest of the year. In 2006 it became a non-profit organization.\n\nIn 2008, Hidden Green LLC, investors in the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, purchased the Annalee Dolls factory site for $1.05 million. The Playhouse renovated this property to create a \"Tanglewood type of setting\" to perform theater and other endeavors in. The theater moved from its previous site in Weirs Beach to the site of Annalee's former gift shop in 2013.\n\nAs of 2012, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse had performed 91 plays, 45 of which were professional summer stock, with the rest being community theater or children's theater.\n\nNew theater\nThe access to the Annalee Dolls campus allowed the Winnipesaukee Playhouse to greatly expand and create the first performing arts complex in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The campus contains over of land dotted with seven buildings containing of space. The new campus offers a state-of-the-art theatre that can seat about 200 patrons, a summer theatre camp for students entering grades K-8, an outdoor amphitheater with performances available before select shows, and a brand-new menu. The entire project to create a performing arts campus cost roughly $4 million. The new theater, with almost 200 seats, more than doubles the audience space that the previous theatre held (84 seats).\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Winnipesaukee Playhouse official site\n Current and upcoming performances\n\nOrganizations established in 2004\nTheatres in New Hampshire\nBuildings and structures in Belknap County, New Hampshire\nTourist attractions in Belknap County, New Hampshire\nMeredith, New Hampshire"
] |
[
"Megan Fox",
"2009-presentEdit",
"What is Megan Fox currently doing?",
"Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.",
"Did she appear in other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies?",
"I don't know.",
"What other movies has she appeared in since 2009?",
"In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40.",
"Has she done any TV shows?",
"She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken,",
"Did she do any other type of theater?",
"Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single \"Love the Way You Lie\"."
] |
C_c2022f53699f41768a812c833718698f_1
|
Did she win any awards?
| 6 |
Did Megan Fox win any awards?
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Megan Fox
|
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film's poor reception at the Toronto Film festival led to its conventional theatrical distribution being bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox was the voice of the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins in the Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by a cast including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah. In March 2009, Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaptation of the comic book Fathom, which she would also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy This Is 40. She was the voice of Lois Lane in the film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, and it aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9, 2012. In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). In October 2014, Fox was cast as the female lead in James Franco's film adaptation of Zeroville. In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television show New Girl following Deschanel's maternity leave. Fox reprised the role of April O'Neil in the 2016 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She has made multiple appearances in major film franchises, most notably the Transformers franchise, as well as numerous magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone, and FHM. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two Scream Awards and four Teen Choice Awards.
Fox made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Early life
Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to parents Gloria Darlene (née Cisson) and Franklin Thomas Fox. She spent her early childhood in nearby Rockwood. Fox's father, a parole officer, and her mother divorced when Fox was three years old. Her mother later remarried, and Fox and her sister were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio. She was raised "very strictly Pentecostal", but later attended Catholic school for 12 years. She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend or invite friends to her house. She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.
Fox began her training in dance and drama at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee. She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At age 10, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training. When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Fox first attended high school at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie until her junior year where she attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School.
When she was 17, when she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles, California.
Fox spoke freely about her time in school, stating that in middle school she was bullied and had to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets." She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way." Fox also said that she was never popular in high school, and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn't like me for that. I've had only one great girlfriend my whole life." In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has "never been a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it."
Career
2000–2009: Early roles and breakthrough
In 2001, Fox made her acting debut in the romantic comedy Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years, she guest-starred on the sitcoms What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men. Fox also appeared as an uncredited extra in the action film Bad Boys II (2003).
In 2004, Fox made her feature film debut opposite Lindsay Lohan in the musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). She was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in second and third seasons, until the series was cancelled by ABC in May 2006.
In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. She had signed on for two more Transformers sequels, reprising her role as Mikaela in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain ten pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009, to box office success.
Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler. Bay said in June 2009 that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim Spielberg challenged.
In 2009, Fox had her first lead role since the Transformers series; she portrayed the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film initially earned mixed to average reviews upon its release, with Fox's performance earning praise. However, the film grew a cult following over time and was critically reassessed as a "forgotten feminist classic". According to Cody, the film was marketed incorrectly by executives who focused their efforts on the young male audience.
In April 2009, she began filming the western superhero film Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Tallulah Black / Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010. Despite receiving top billing, Fox described her role in the film as being a cameo. Jonah Hex was a critical and commercial failure in the U.S., with its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year" by the Houston Film Critics Society.
2010–present: rise to prominence and current work
Fox starred alongside Mickey Rourke in the drama Passion Play. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, its conventional theatrical distribution was bypassed for a direct-to-video release, with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Rourke remarked that the film was "terrible. Another terrible movie." Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie". In 2012, Fox appeared briefly in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy film The Dictator and had a featured role in Judd Apatow's comedy film This Is 40. She voiced the role of Lois Lane in the animated comedy film Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, an episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken that aired as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on September 9, 2012.
In January 2013, Fox was featured in a Brazilian television commercial for Brahma beer. In February 2013, Fox set aside her differences with her former director Michael Bay and worked again with him on his reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), starring as the lead human character of April O'Neil.
In 2015, Fox was cast in the role of Amelia Delthanis in the Plarium video game, Stormfall: Rise of Balur. In October 2015, it was confirmed that Fox would be temporarily replacing Zooey Deschanel in the television sitcom New Girl, following Deschanel's maternity leave. She starred as Reagan Lucas, appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of the series. Her performance earned positive reviews from critics. In 2016, Fox reprised her role of April O'Neil in the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
On September 12, 2018, it was confirmed that Fox would star in the Korean War film The Battle of Jangsari, beside Korean actor Kim Myung-min. She played a lead role as Marguerite Higgins, an American news reporter.
In 2019, Fox starred in the mystery-fantasy film Above the Shadows opposite Olivia Thirlby and Alan Ritchson, directed by Claudia Myers. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Gravitas Ventures. That same year, Fox appeared in Zeroville directed by James Franco, which was previously shot in 2014. The film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.
In 2020, Fox starred opposite Josh Duhamel in the family comedy film Think Like a Dog, which was released on video on demand on June 9, 2020. Also that year, she starred in the lead role of the action film Rogue, which was released on August 28, 2020.
In 2021 she starred in the thrillers, Midnight in the Switchgrass opposite Emile Hirsch and Bruce Willis, directed by Randall Emmett, and Till Death, directed by S.K. Dale.
Upcoming projects
Fox will next star in the drama comedy Big Gold Brick, alongside Oscar Isaac, Andy García, Lucy Hale, and Emory Cohen, directed by Brian Petsos.
Fox will feature as a voice role in Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphins, a 3D documentary film. The story is told by an ensemble cast, including Kate Winslet, Elliot Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini, and Daryl Hannah.
Fox will play crime boss Alana in thriller film Johnny & Clyde with Tyson Ritter. Fox will play a role in the film Taurus, a musical drama, aside Machine Gun Kelly, Naomi Wild, and Lil Tjay.
Public image
Status and persona
Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called Fox a "sex symbol of the highest order" and said she was "the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century." Craig Flaster of MTV stated, "Transformers broke Fox into the mainstream, immediately turning her into a household name and international sex symbol." She has been featured on various magazine covers and "hottest" and "most beautiful woman" lists throughout the years, such as Maxims Hot 100 lists and when FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008. People named her one of 2012's and 2017's Most Beautiful at Every Age. Scholar Marc DiPaolo stated that Fox achieved instant fame as Mikaela in Transformers because a "highly sexualized, erotically idealized figure draped over a car or motorcycle invariably evokes lust in the heterosexual male onlooker" and Fox did this by leaning over a Camaro while wearing "a flimsy pink belly shirt" and short skirt, which read as "an unequivocal sex invite" to male viewers. The editors of Men's Health also credited the Camaro scene with contributing to Fox's fame.
Fox said all women in Hollywood are known and marketed as sex symbols, but that this is okay if the woman knows how to utilize the status. She created a character for her public image because she was unwilling to sacrifice her true self to the world. Scholars Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster disagreed that every woman in Hollywood is marketed as a sex symbol, and stated that Fox's "celebrity is based on what she admits is an entirely artificial construct designed for dissemination in the Internet age, a 21st-century media personality in every sense of the word." Part of her persona included making outlandish comments, which she said helped her reach her level of fame versus being "a typical starlet" who "said all the right things". Her tattoos, which she began getting at age 19 as a form of self-expression, helped popularize tattoo fashion. She had over nine known tattoos, including a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm and a quote on her shoulder. Author John Tehranian argued that Fox's Monroe tattoo enhanced her "implicit claims to Monroe's legacy as Hollywood's leading sex symbol." Fox ended up removing the Monroe tattoo in a series of laser surgeries because she felt that Monroe's life was full of negativity and she did not want to emulate it.
The media often compared Fox to actress Angelina Jolie, dubbing her the "next Angelina Jolie", which also affected her image. Amid this and reports that she was to replace Jolie in a new Lara Croft film, Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and attributed them to both she and Jolie being brunette, having tattoos, cursing, and mentioning and joking about sex, "which people find outrageous". Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times opined that "the Jolie comparison would probably have been made by the media eventually, but Fox sped up the process" by "linking herself to Jolie" and that she "enjoyed creating entertaining copy" by telling "tales of darkness and lust."
In 2009, Fox's public image came under scrutiny when an unsigned letter from three crew members of Transformers defended director Michael Bay against accusations made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. In response to the letter alleging that Fox's on-set behavior is unpleasant and contrasts her public persona, Bay stated he does not condone the letter or Fox's "outlandish quotes", but "her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm", and that they still work well together. A production assistant who worked on Transformers also stated that he never saw Fox act inappropriately on set. Fox said the letter's claims were false, and that she had privately spoken with the parties involved. She said she was "very fortunate" to be a part of the franchise, and was looking forward to continuing her work. DiPaolo concluded that Fox's criticism of the media sexually objectifying girls and women was in stark contrast to her sex symbol status and that "her defiance of director Michael Bay and frequent outspoken comments" stifled her career.
Media exposure
The increased media exposure was difficult for Fox, who acknowledged being shy and insecure, to adjust to. It also positioned her as a potential role model, and later led to her being typecast. She rejected being a formal role model, but said that she could make young girls feel "strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right" and that she was a different role model for girls that maybe America was not comfortable with. She considered being typecast as attractive an opportunity to surprise people when she gives a good performance in a film, but said she is interested in portraying less sexualized characters. MTV's Craig Flaster said that although Fox has "been typecast as the big-budget sex symbol", she has shown comedic range.
Fox's overexposure in the media led several men's websites, such as AskMen, to boycott her on August 4, 2009, although some refused to do so, feeling that the boycott was a publicity stunt and therefore hypocritical. In response to the media attention, Fox told magazine Nylon, in September of that year, that "[the studio] wanted to make sure [the film] would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars" and that she did not "want to have people get completely sick of [her] before [she's] ever even done something legitimate." She became much less prominent in the media by 2010, after starring in the less commercially successful films Jonah Hex and Passion Play. That same year, Fox said, "My biggest regret is that I've assisted the media in making me into a cartoon character. I don't regret what has happened to me, but I regret the way I have dealt with it." Dixon and Foster stated, "The problem [Fox] faces is that the [image] construct has replaced the real in the minds of the public; and once established, a media persona is hard to recalibrate."
Personal life
In 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as the "Bling Ring", who robbed her then-boyfriend Brian Austin Green's home for access to Fox's possessions.
Fox has a form of brachydactyly called clubbed thumb, and has discussed her obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), insecurities, self-harming, and has acknowledged that she has low self-esteem. In 2013, she said that her Christian faith is still very important to her and she believes it keeps her grounded.
Fox and then-husband Green were supporters of Generosity Water, and funded the creation of over ten water wells for the organization.
With regard to relationships and her sexuality, Fox said that she has a general distrust and dislike of men, and that the perception of her as a "wild and crazy sexpot" is false because she is asocial and has only been sexually intimate with her "childhood sweetheart" and Brian Austin Green; she stated that she would rather stay at home instead of going out, and emphasized that she cannot have sex with someone she does not love. She is bisexual, and said she believes that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes". She stated in 2009, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
Fox told InStyle in July 2021: "A girl would come up to me and be like: 'You had a lot to do with me, like identifying and understanding that I was gay or understanding that I was bisexual...' And that, of course, is by far, like, the most moving, rewarding thing that I have experienced in my life! To be a part of something that helped people figure that out, or helped people deal with that, or feel better about that. One of my favorite things that I get called, is being like, a bi icon and that is one of the things I am the most proud of!"
Relationships
Fox began dating actor Brian Austin Green in 2004, after meeting on the set of Hope & Faith; she was 18 years old, while he was 30. According to Fox, Green was initially hesitant to enter a relationship with her due to the age difference, stating, "I had to convince him that I was slightly more responsible and well-spoken and had other things to bring to the table besides being 18." They became engaged in November 2006. In February 2009, they ended their engagement, but were reported to have gotten engaged again on June 1, 2010. Fox maintained that she and Green had been continuously engaged since 2006.
Fox and Green married on June 24, 2010, in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. Fox filed for divorce on August 21, 2015, a few days after she and Green announced their separation. By early 2016, they were back together and expecting their third child. On April 25, 2019, Fox filed to dismiss the divorce in Los Angeles, California. Together, they have three sons: Noah Shannon Green (born 2012), Bodhi Ransom Green (born 2014) and Journey River Green (born 2016). Fox was also a stepmother to Green's son Kassius (born 2002) from a previous relationship.
In May 2020, Green announced that he and Fox had separated after nearly 10 years of marriage, and in November 2020, Fox filed for divorce from Green for a second time. The divorce was finalized on October 15, 2021.
In June 2020, she and singer Machine Gun Kelly went public about their relationship, several weeks after the release of Machine Gun Kelly's song "Bloody Valentine", whose music video features Fox. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that the two were engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fox has received numerous awards and nominations, including four Teen Choice Awards and two Scream Awards.
References
External links
1986 births
21st-century American actresses
Actors from St. Petersburg, Florida
Actresses from Florida
Actresses from Tennessee
American child actresses
American child models
American film actresses
American people of English descent
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American bisexual actors
Bisexual actresses
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Female models from Florida
Female models from Tennessee
LGBT Christians
LGBT models
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT people from Tennessee
Living people
People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee
People from Rockwood, Tennessee
| false |
[
"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)"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views"
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
|
Was Peter politically active?
| 1 |
Was Peter Hitchens politically active?
|
Peter Hitchens
|
Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
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Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.
|
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
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[
"Helena Early (1 April 18881977), was the first woman solicitor to practice in Ireland.\n\nBiography\nHelena Early was born to Peter Early and Mary Ann Reilly on 1 April 1888 in Swords. She had a number of older siblings. One, her brother Thomas, was a solicitor. Early worked as a Law clerk for her brother and took the Preliminary Examination in January 1920 where she placed first. She later came first in the Intermediate Examination and fourth in the Final. Early was indentured to her brother on 22 June 1920 after applying for a practicing certificate in 1919. She was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 1923. In 1920 Early was the Auditor of the Solicitors’ Apprentices Debating Society.\n\nEarly had a practice on O’Connell Street, Dublin. She was politically active. Early was President of the Ireland–U.S.S.R. Friendship Society which was active through the 1950s. Early retired during the '60s. She died in 1977.\n\nSources\n\n1888 births\n\n1977 deaths\nIrish women lawyers",
"Peter Turck often misspelled Turek (1798 - ?) was a farmer from Mequon, Wisconsin who served a single one-year term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.\n\nBackground \nWhen Turck joined the Assembly in January 1849, he was reported to be 50 years old, from New York state, and to have been in Wisconsin for eleven years.\n\nPublic affairs \nOn June 15, 1841, Turck was designated as a delegate from Washington County to the upcoming Whig territorial convention.\n\nIn March 1842, Turck was appointed by James Duane Doty, Whig governor of Wisconsin Territory, as a justice of the peace for Washington County (which at that time included a larger territory, including what is now Ozaukee County. Turck was elected in 1848 to represent the 3rd Washington County Assembly district (the Towns of Mequon and Germantown) as a Democrat, succeeding fellow Democrat Adolphus Zimmermann, for the 1849 term (2nd Wisconsin Legislature). He would not be elected in 1850, but all the Assemblymen from Washington County in 1850 were Democrats.\n\nLater life \nThere was a Peter Turck who was politically active in nearby Milwaukee in the 1850s, but there is no evidence whether this was the same person; nor whether he was the same Peter Turck whose insanity embroiled him in a lawsuit in Milwaukee in February 1868.\n\nReferences \n\n1798 births\nWisconsin Democrats\nMembers of the Wisconsin State Assembly\nPeople from Mequon, Wisconsin\nPeople from New York (state)\nFarmers from Wisconsin\nWisconsin Whigs\nYear of death missing"
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"Peter Hitchens",
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"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003."
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
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Did he write about politics?
| 2 |
Did Peter Hitchens write about politics?
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Peter Hitchens
|
Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
|
". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,
|
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
| false |
[
"Baari Tar Bangla is a 2014 Indian Bengali language satirical comedy film by Rangan Chakravarty and produced by Satrajit Sen and Piyal Bhadra in association with Reproduction Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Tripod Entertainment. The film was released on 16 May 2014.\n\nPlot\nRoopchand Sen is a professional writer who can no longer write. When he determines that the problem is not physical, but psychological, he goes to see a psychiatrist, Abanti, who uncovers his life story.\n\nA middle-class boy, Roopchand was pushed by his mother to become a Bangla writer like Bengali icon Satyajit Ray. At first, Roopchand succeeded as an advertising writer, but when the economy went into a downturn, so did his career. His mother, disappointed in her ambitions for her son, committed suicide. Roopchand thereafter became a political writer on the urging of his father, but as politics and parties changed and the message he was asked to advocate kept altering, he eventually lost that career as well. Thereafter, he found he could not write in Bangla at all. So used to writing for others had he become that he was unable to express himself anymore.\n\nUnderstanding his problem, Abanti urges him to be Roopchand, the copy writer once again. Roopchand finds a cause he cares about, the anti-eviction movement, and regains his ability to write.\n\nCast\n Saswata Chatterjee as Roopchand Sen\n Raima Sen as Abanti\n Sumit Samaddar as Photik\n Tulika Basu\t\t\n Shantilal Mukherjee\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2010s Bengali-language films\nBengali-language films\nIndian films\nFilms about language",
"Interventions is a book by Noam Chomsky, an American academic linguist and political activist. Published in May 2007, Interventions is a collection of 44 op-ed articles, post-9/11, from September 2002, through March 2007. The book's subjects span from 9/11 and the Iraq War to social security and intelligent design, South America and Asia, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the election of Hamas, Hurricane Katrina, and the US concept of \"just war\". The Pentagon banned the book from its Guantanamo Bay prison because it might negatively \"impact... good order and discipline.\" Chomsky replied that, \"This happens sometimes in totalitarian regimes.\"\n\nBackground\nChomsky was first approached to write an op-ed column for the New York Times Syndicate on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the basis of his work 9/11 (2001). The international attention garnered by the subsequent column, entitled \"9-11: Lessons Unlearned,\" convinced the publishers to commission Chomsky to write roughly 1,000 words a month which they would then distribute as op-ed pieces. These columns were syndicated overseas, but rarely licensed in the United States; The New York Times itself did not publish them. A second volume of these, collecting columns from April 2, 2007 to October 31, 2011, was published as Making the Future (2012).\n\nSee also\n September 11 attacks\n Interventionism (politics)\n Foreign policy of the United States\n\nSources\n\nExternal links\n Interventions\n\n2007 non-fiction books\nBooks about foreign relations of the United States\nBooks about politics of the United States\nBooks by Noam Chomsky\nNon-fiction books about war\nHamish Hamilton books\nCity Lights Publishers books"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,"
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
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What were his feelings about religion
| 3 |
What were Peter Hitchens feelings about religion?
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Peter Hitchens
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Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
| false |
[
"Psychoanalysis and Religion is a 1950 book by social psychologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, in which he attempts to explain the purpose and goals of psychoanalysis in relation to ethics and religion.\n\nForward\nIn the forward to the first edition, Fromm explains that Psychoanalysis and Religion is a continuation of the thoughts he expressed in his 1947 book Man for Himself. He states that he is not asserting that his thesis applies to all researchers and practitioners in the field of psychoanalysis.\n\nIn an updated forward to a 1967 printing, Fromm indicates that he believed the work had held up despite advances made over the intervening years, and he made no changes.\n\nAccording to an early reviewer, Fromm wrote Psychoanalysis and Religion in \"an effort to reconcile the faith of the scientist with the ageless belief of man in the goodness and omnipotence of the Absolute....\"\n\nAs evidenced by this and his other works, Fromm was fascinated by the psychological aspects of religion and what seemed to be a ubiquitous need for religion by humans. Fromm postulated an explanation for this phenomenon, that people respond to and are comforted by the structure and discipline of church authority. Religion helps people to find fellowship and some modicum of control over their lives, and is thus a defense against feelings of powerlessness and loneliness. \"To some people return to religion is the answer, not as an act of faith but in order to escape an intolerable doubt; they make this decision not out of devotion but in search of security.\" (Fromm 1950, p. 4) Self-awareness, with its potential for causing acute emotional feelings, can be frightening and overwhelming. Religion may serve to help ameliorate such fears.\n\nIn discerning the positive and negative effects of religion on individuals, Fromm drew a distinction between authoritarian and humanistic religions. Authoritarian religious entities promulgate the belief that humans are at the mercy of an omnipotent God, whereas humanistic ones promote the belief that the power of God is visible in the mane of the individual. According to Fromm, authoritarian religions disserve the individual by denying their individual identities, while humanistic ones provide for personal validation and growth.\n\nWhile Fromm provided for the possibility that religion could be a positive influence in an individual's life, perhaps facilitating happiness and comfort, his critique serves mainly to condemn, at a very basic level, most religious orders, especially those orders most commonly practiced in Western culture. Accordingly, Fromm's thesis is rejected by most theologians.\n\nSee also\n Psychology of religion\n Jensen, Walter A. (2017). \"Humanistic and authoritarian religions.\" In Erich Fromm's contributions to sociological theory. Kalamazoo, MI: Printmill, pp. 11-58. .\n\nReferences\n\n1950 non-fiction books\nBooks about psychoanalysis\nPhilosophical literature\nYale University Press books\nWorks by Erich Fromm",
"Offending religious feelings () is a blasphemy law in Poland. According to Article 196 of the Penal Code: \"Whoever offends the religious feelings of other persons by publicly insulting an object of religious worship, or a place designated for public religious ceremonies, is liable to pay a fine, have his or her liberty limited, or be deprived of his or her liberty for a period of up to two years.\"\n\nConstitutionality\nA law forbidding blasphemy was included in the original 1932 Polish penal code.\n\nThe Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that the law is not in conflict with the Constitution of Poland and is not overbroad. The European Court of Human Rights has also allowed other blasphemy laws under margin of appreciation doctrine, as individual countries have broad ability to set moral standards.\n\nPolish law has no provision which exempts or reduces the scrutiny applied to artistic expression alleged to violate the law, although many artists who have been accused of violating it say that their work should be protected as artistic freedom. \n\nA separate law, Article 256, criminalizes incitement to hatred based on religious belief.\n\nCases\nThe majority of cases in which charges of Article 196 are made do not lead to actual convictions. About 55 prosecutions on average were brought each year between 1999 and 2016. Since Poland is a predominantly Catholic country (around 87% of Poles say they were baptized as Catholics), most Article 196 cases concern that religion.\n\nIn 2000, Polish artist Dorota Nieznalska juxtaposed Greek cross with male genitalia in an artistic exhibition. In 2009 she was finally acquitted after lengthy legal proceedings, due to the court not finding an intent to offend religious feelings.\n\nIn 2008, musician Adam Darski tore up a Bible during a performance, referring to it as \"the book of lies\". He was acquitted after the performance was deemed not to be sufficiently public, the audience had bought tickets and consented to the performance, and only one audience member complained. After his acquittal, Darski announced his intention to hold \"Satanist communion\" during performances.\n\nIn 2009, singer Dorota Rabczewska (Doda) referred to the Bible as \"something written by individuals high on alcohol and weed\". She was convicted and fined. The case Rabczewska v. Poland is currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights.\n\nIn 2015, Robert Biedroń, mayor of Słupsk, was investigated for removing a portrait of John Paul II from his office after PiS activists reported him for allegedly offending religious feelings.\n\nIn 2019, Elżbieta Podleśna was arrested for displaying a Rainbow Madonna adaptation of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. In July 2020, Podleśna and two other activists were formally charged with offending religious feelings; they pled not guilty. and Amnesty International criticized the use of the law.\n\nIn October 2019, Bishop Szymon Niemiec of the United Ecumenical Church was interrogated by police under suspicion of offending religious feelings \"by insulting the object of worship in the form of a Roman Catholic Mass\"; police had received more than 150 complaints regarding the incident. He had held an ecumenical, LGBT-inclusive religious service in connection with Warsaw's 2019 Equality Parade, which was criticized by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference of Poland and Law and Justice politicians. Niemiec previously held similar services every year since 2010 without controversy. Niemiec and Julia Maciocha, president of the committee which organizes Equality Parade, stated that the complaint against Niemiec violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.\n\nRepeal attempts\nThe law is controversial in Poland. Lawyers have noted that it is excessively vague, not stating what actions count as \"offending religious feelings\", leading some to call for repeal of the law. Opponents of the law say that it has a chilling effect on legitimate free speech and criticism of religion. It has been criticized for violating free speech by human rights watchdogs such as Article 19, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, End Blasphemy Laws, and Amnesty International. The Council of Europe's Recommendation 1805 urges member states to repeal blasphemy laws. Anne Ramberg and Michael Kirby of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute stated that the law was overbroad, conflicting with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and was used unfairly to target LGBT rights advocates.\n\nIn 2019, MP of Modern submitted legislation that would have abolished the offense. Referencing Podleśna's arrest, he said that Article 196 \"has become a political tool today\" and was an \"oppressive article that has repeatedly limited creative freedom\". Robert Biedroń, leader of Spring, said that his party aims to repeal the offense if elected. Biedroń added that the law and arrest of Podleśna made Poland internationally \"famous for the idiotic attitude of today's rulers who go after artists and those who enjoy freedom of speech\".\n\nSee also\n Censorship by religion\n Profaning a monument\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Text of the law \n Official statistics (1999–2016)\nBlasphemy law in Europe\nFreedom of expression in Poland\nReligion in Poland"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,",
"What were his feelings about religion",
"I don't know."
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
|
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
| 4 |
Besides Peter Hitchens joining the Conservative Party in 1997,Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
|
Peter Hitchens
|
Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
|
He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist,
|
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
| false |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,",
"What were his feelings about religion",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist,"
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
|
What does he think is going wrong in Britain?
| 5 |
What does Peter Hitchens think is going wrong in Britain?
|
Peter Hitchens
|
Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
|
the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life,
|
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
| false |
[
"Several notable opinion polls have been undertaken on Islam and related topics, including fundamentalism, and Islamic terrorism. Polls have interviewed both Muslim respondents and other groups.\n\nCountries\n\nAustralia\n2005: In a 2005 Lowy Institute for International Policy Poll 57% of Australians indicated they are worried about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Amos N. Guiora noted that this is equivalent to the number of Australians who perceived American Foreign Policy as a threat, he further noted that not just Muslim countries have an unfavourable opinion of the United States but a large number of western countries such as: France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain and concluded that Australia was not an outlier on this regard. The Lowly Institute claimed that the result \"raised eyebrows. USA Today also analysed the data as showing that among Australians \"57% judged U.S. foreign policy to be as much of a threat as Islamic fundamentalism\", USA Today analysed the poll as having a margin of error of 3.1% The Economist claims Paul Keating, Australia's former prime minister was “jolted” by the findings.\n\nEgypt\n2011: In Egypt, a survey conducted by Pew Research found that 22% of Egyptians had confidence in Osama bin Laden. Dona J. Stewart, an External Research Associate at the Strategic Studies Institute analysed this as showing favoribility for al-Qaeda on the decline in Egypt. To backup this claim she noted a 2006 survey which showed 27% of Egyptians had a favorable view of Bin Laden which went down to 22% in 2011.\n2009: Research published in 2009 by WPO found that 44% of Egyptians had a favorable view of Osama Bin Laden, whereas 22% had a mixed view and 17% had a negative view. Halim Rane Associate Professor at Griffith University analysed this data and others and concluded that research has shown that support for al-Qaeda and Bin Laden has generally declined over the decade.\n\nJordan\nJuly 2005: 86% of Jordanian people when asked if Suicide bombings against Israelis were justifiable said they supported it, whereas 14% did not. 70% when asked if suicide bombings against Americans and Westerners in Iraq was justifies said \"yes\" The Free Republic analysed this as showing that the support for suicide bombings by Palestinian against Israelis was widespread however, they believe that the data as a whole shows that \"there is broader agreement that suicide attacks in specific circumstances – against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq, and by Palestinians against Israeli citizens - are justified\".\n\nTurkey\nJuly 2005: 24% of Turkish people when asked if Suicide bombings against Israelis were justifiable said they supported it, whereas 67% did not. The LA Times analysed the entire PEW research poll from which this data came as showing support for terrorism being on the decline and support down since 2004. The Free Republic analysed this as showing that public opinion in Turkey for the support of Palestinian violence on the decline.\n\nUnited Kingdom\nAugust 2006: A YouGov survey revealed that the number of Non Muslims who feel that \"a large proportion of British Muslims feel no sense of loyalty to this country and are prepared to condone or even carry out acts of terrorism\" was 10% after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but had increased to 18% a year later in 2006. The \"Communities and Local GovernmentCommittee\" of the British Parliament, House of Commons referred to this as disheartening/less heartening. Sky News analysed the entire data collected by Yougov (which included the data about loyalty) at that time as showing that a majority of people in Britain feel threatened by Islam.\n\nUnited States\nAugust 2010: A New York Times poll found that 33% of Americans think that Muslim Americans were more \"sympathetic to terrorists than other Citizens\" Rik Coolsaet analysed this as indicating a high level of distrust directed at the American Muslim community. New York Times did this survey during the Park51 Ground Zero Mosque incident. The New York Times called the findings \"appalling\" and also analysed the data as showing a very high level of distrust of Muslim-Americans and robust disapproval of the Park51 Mosque proposal. The New Republic stated that it does not trust the poll carried out by the New York Times and that the figures would be higher than 33%. They further claimed that New York residents are tolerant and if the figures were 33% in New York then \"non-New Yorker fellow citizens are far more deeply biased and warped than the Gotham locals\".\n\nRegions\n\nCentral Asia\n85% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 85% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 61% think that abortion is morally wrong. 38% think that western pop culture harms morality. 12% favor enshrining Sharia. Among these, 62% want religious judges to oversee family law; 38% want severe corporal punishments for criminals; 16% want to execute those who leave Islam.\n\nMiddle East-North Africa\n93% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 94% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 72% think that abortion is morally wrong. 51% think that western pop culture harms morality. 74% favor enshrining Sharia. Among these, 78% want religious judges to oversee family law; 57% want severe corporal punishments for criminals; 56% want to execute those who leave Islam.\n\nSouth Asia\n79% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 87% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 64% think that abortion is morally wrong. 59% think that western pop culture harms morality. 84% favor enshrining Sharia. Among these, 78% want religious judges to oversee family law; 81% want severe corporal punishments for criminals; 76% want to execute those who leave Islam.\n\nSoutheast Asia\n95% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 94% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 93% think that abortion is morally wrong. 51% think that western pop culture harms morality. 77% favor enshrining Sharia. Among these, 84% want religious judges to oversee family law; 46% want severe corporal punishments for criminals; 27% want to execute those who leave Islam.\n\nSouthern-Eastern Europe\n83% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 67% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 71% think that abortion is morally wrong. 35% think that western pop culture harms morality. 18% favor enshrining Sharia. Among these, 41% want religious judges to oversee family law; 36% want severe corporal punishments for criminals; 13% want to execute those who leave Islam.\n\nSub-Saharan Africa\n91% of interviewed Muslims think that homosexuality is morally wrong. 78% think that sex outside of marriage is morally wrong. 88% think that abortion is morally wrong. 65% think that western pop culture harms morality. 64% favor enshrining Sharia.\n\nReferences\n\nPolling\nIslam and politics",
"\"The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy\" is General Omar Bradley's famous rebuke in his May 15, 1951 Congressional testimony as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the idea of extending the Korean War into China, as proposed by General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the U.N. forces in Korea before being relieved of command by President Harry Truman on April 11, 1951.\n\nPassages from testimony\nHere is a more complete passage of Bradley's testimony:\n\nVietnam War usage \nPresidential candidate John F. Kennedy echoed Bradley's sentiments in a speech given on October 12, 1960:\nShould I become your President... I will not risk American lives and a nuclear war by permitting any other nation to drag us into the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time through an unwise commitment that is unwise militarily, unnecessary to our security and unsupported by our allies.\n\nIraq War usage \nThe quotation has since been used to criticize the planning and execution of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation. General Anthony Zinni, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Governor Howard Dean have all used variations of the phrase in criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war. Notably, Schlesinger also reported contemporaneously on Bradley's original statement back in 1951. \nDespite voting yes on the Authorization to Use Military Force on Iraq and not reversing his position at any time before the invasion, on September 6, 2004, at a Racine, West Virginia rally, Senator John Kerry said,\nI would not have done just one thing differently than the president on Iraq, I would have done everything differently than the president on Iraq…. You've about 500 troops here, 500 troops there and it's American troops that are 90 percent of the combat casualties and it's American taxpayers that are paying 90 percent of the cost of the war. It's the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time.\n\nSpeaking on 60 Minutes, May 23, 2004, Zinni said, \"The plan was wrong, it was the wrong war, the wrong place and the wrong time— with little or no planning.\" He stated that serious \"derelictions of duty,\" \"criminal negligence,\" and poor planning put U.S. forces in harm's way and left Iraq in chaos after the invasion. He also said that Paul Bremer had made \"mistake after mistake after mistake.\"\n\nIn The Independent, April 15, 2004, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. wrote:\nThe immediate reason that Mr Bush opened Pandora's box in the Middle East and invaded Iraq was his moral certitude that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he was working in close partnership with Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida. Those convictions turned out to be delusions. This denouement does great harm to Mr Bush's credibility and to that of the United States; it has got us into a ghastly mess in Iraq; and it has diverted attention, resources and military might from the war that should have commanded the Bush administration's highest priority - the Afghan war against al-Qa'ida and international terrorism. Meanwhile Afghanistan is a mess too. Mr Bush chose the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time.\n\nOn December 15, 2003, at the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, Howard Dean said Bush \"launched the wrong war, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help and at extraordinary cost.\" In a May 3, 2003 primary debate in South Carolina, Dean said:\nLet me be very clear about what I believe. I'm delighted to see Saddam Hussein gone. I appreciate the fact that we have a strong military in this country, and I'd keep a strong military in this country, but I think this was the wrong war at the wrong time because we have set a new policy of preventive war in this country, and I think that was the wrong thing to do because sooner or later we're going to see another country copy the United States, and sooner or later we're going to have to deal with the fact that there may well be a Shia fundamentalist regime set up in Iraq which will be a greater danger to the United States than Iraq is.\n\n2004 Presidential debate \nDuring the first Presidential debate of 2004, George W. Bush repeatedly rebuked John Kerry for using Bradley's saying, asking, \"what kind of message does it say\" to U.S. troops and allies. Speaking of other world leaders, Bush said \"They're not going to follow somebody who says, 'This is the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time.'\" Bush recited versions of the quotation seven times, three times in one response.\n\nAlthough the saying was prominent in media coverage of the presidential race, practically no story made note of its source.\n\nReferences\n\n1951 in the United States\nAmerican political catchphrases\nWar and politics\nIraq War\nKorean War\nVietnam War"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,",
"What were his feelings about religion",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist,",
"What does he think is going wrong in Britain?",
"the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist\", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote \"in all my experience in life,"
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
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What did he say about in all his experience?
| 6 |
What did Peter Hitchens say about in all his experience?
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Peter Hitchens
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Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
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life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection,
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Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
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"\"What They'll Say About Us\" is a song by American singer-songwriter Finneas. It was released by OYOY as a single on September 2, 2020. The song was written and produced by Finneas. A lullaby-influenced ballad, the lyrics were inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests and Nick Cordero's death due to COVID-19. \"What They'll Say About Us\" was noted by music critics for its lyrical content. A music video for the song was released alongside the song and was directed by Sam Bennett in one take. It is the first single from his debut studio album Optimist.\n\nBackground and development\nFinneas wrote and produced \"What They'll Say About Us\". It was inspired by the spark of Black Lives Matter protests after racial inequality in the United States and the death of Canadian actor Nick Cordero, who died at the age of 41 from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Finneas wrote the track in June 2020 while in quarantine. In an interview over Zoom with The Wall Street Journal, he said: \"I wrote this song in June after spending the day at a protest in Downtown LA, filled with hope with the prospect that millions of people were coming together from all over the world to fight against institutionalized racism and inequality\". He further stated: \"The other component of the song was [that] I was very closely following Nick Cordero's story on Instagram, via his wife [Amanda Kloots], and Nick and his wife were not people I'd ever met. I don't know them at all. I saw the headlines about his health, just like everybody else did. I just became incredibly attached to this family that I’d never met before. I kind of wrote this song as if you were singing to your loved one who was in a hospital bed while the world was protesting outside. I did make a point to keep the song fairly ambiguous because I know everybody's sort of going through different circumstances of the same things right now\".\n\nComposition and lyrics\n\"What They'll Say About Us\" begins \"calmly and reassuringly\": \"You're tired now, lie down/I'll be waiting to give you the good news/It might take patience/And when you wake up, it won't be over/So don't you give up\". However, as the beat and other instruments begin to arrive, the soundstage changes to be hazy. John Pareles, writing for The New York Times, says it \"mortality begins to haunt the song, all the way to a devastating last line\", noting the lyrics, \"It might take patience/And if you don't wake up/I'll know you tried to/I wish you could see him/He looks just like you\".\n\nReception\nIn a review for DIY magazine, the staff labeled \"What They'll Say About Us\" as \"poignant\" and an \"ode to human strength\". Writing for Billboard magazine, Jason Lipshutz said while the production on the track is \"effectively restrained\", people should credit Finneas for going \"full-on showstopper when he draws out the line, 'We've got the time to take the world / And make it better than it ever was\". Emily Tan of Spin magazine described the track as a song that \"aims to offer comfort to those who have lost someone due to Covid-19\".\n\nMusic video\nA music video for \"What They'll Say About Us\" was released to Finneas' YouTube channel on September 2, 2020. The video was directed by Sam Bennett and shot in one take. In the visual, lights and rain swirl around Finneas as he sings and offers comfort to people who have lost someone they love from COVID-19. Spins Emily Yan described the visual as \"simple\" and \"intimate\".\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2020s ballads\n2020 singles\n2020 songs\nSong recordings produced by Finneas O'Connell\nSongs written by Finneas O'Connell\nSongs in memory of deceased persons\nFinneas O'Connell songs",
"\"Say What You Want\" is a song by Scottish rock band Texas and the first single to be taken from their fourth studio album, White on Blonde (1997). The song includes interpolations of \"Sexual Healing\" by Marvin Gaye and \"Love... Thy Will Be Done\" by Martika. Released in January 1997, it is the band's biggest hit commercially, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart. As of February 2015 the single has sold 451,000 copies in United Kingdom. The accompanying music video released to promote the single shows lead singer Sharleen Spiteri in a futuristic room. The song is featured on their 2000 compilation album, The Greatest Hits.\n\nThe song was remixed as \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\", featuring Method Man and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, and re-released as a double A-side with \"Insane\" in 1998. A second music video was created, showing Spiteri in a park. This version was also a success, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number three in New Zealand, becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the latter country. Regarding this version, Spiteri said, \"They're the biggest guys I've ever seen in my life. They're like basketball players. I'd just recorded a vocal, and Chef Raekwon's like, 'Yo! Who's that singing?' And RZA goes, 'It's Girlie' – 'cos they called me Girlie. And Raekwon goes, 'Man, you black!' And I laughed so loud. Method Man's a pussycat.\"\n\nCritical reception\nQuentin Harrison from Albumism wrote in his retrospective review of the album, that \"the bulk of White on Blonde examines the high and lows of modern love as best heard on its lead single 'Say What You Want'.\"\n\nTrack listings\n\n\"Say What You Want\"\n UK and Australian CD1 \n \"Say What You Want\" – 3:53\n \"Cold Day Dream\" – 4:01\n \"Tear It Up\" – 3:23\n \"Say What You Want\" (Boilerhouse remix) – 4:19\n\n UK and Australian CD2 \n \"Say What You Want\" – 3:53\n \"Say What You Want\" (Rae & Christian mix) – 4:50\n \"Good Advice\" – 4:50\n \"Say What You Want\" (Rae & Christian instrumental mix) – 4:50\n\n UK cassette single and European CD single \n \"Say What You Want\" – 3:53\n \"Cold Day Dream\" – 4:01\n\n\"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\"\n UK CD1 \n \"Insane\" – 4:45\n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" – 4:06\n \"Polo Mint City\" (full version) – 2:50\n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" (Trailermen mix) – 8:38\n\n UK CD2 \n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" (extended version) – 5:02\n \"Insane\" (The Second Scroll) – 6:33\n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" (RZA instrumental) – 5:13\n \"Insane\" (The Second Scroll dub) – 6:35\n\n UK cassette single \n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" – 4:06\n \"Insane\" – 4:45\n\n European CD single \n \"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\" – 4:06\n \"Insane\" (The Second Scroll) – 6:33\n\nCharts\n\n\"Say What You Want\"\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\n\"Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)\"\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications and sales\n\n|}\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n1997 singles\n1998 singles\nNumber-one singles in Scotland\nSong recordings produced by RZA\nSongs written by Johnny McElhone\nSongs written by Method Man\nSongs written by RZA\nSongs written by Sharleen Spiteri\nTexas (band) songs\nWu-Tang Clan songs"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,",
"What were his feelings about religion",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist,",
"What does he think is going wrong in Britain?",
"the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist\", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote \"in all my experience in life,",
"What did he say about in all his experience?",
"life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection,"
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
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What else did he say?
| 7 |
Besides I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection,What else did Peter Hitchens say?
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Peter Hitchens
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Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
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and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State."
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Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
| false |
[
"What Is There to Say (or more completely, What Is There to Say: Joe Pass Solo Guitar) is a live album by jazz guitarist Joe Pass, recorded in 1990 and released posthumously in 2001.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Django\" (John Lewis) – 5:02\n \"Old Folks\" (Willard Robison, Dedette Lee Hill) – 4:13\n \"I Concentrate on You\" (Cole Porter) – 4:04\n \"I'll Be Around\" (Alec Wilder) – 5:01\n \"They Can't Take That Away from Me\" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 4:02\n \"Medley: It's All in the Game/Yesterdays\" (Carl Sigman, Charles Dawes, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern) – 6:29\n \"Come Rain or Come Shine\" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 4:30\n \"On Green Dolphin Street\" (Bronisław Kaper, Ned Washington) – 7:01\n \"What Is There to Say?\" (Vernon Duke, E. Y. \"Yip\" Harburg) – 6:44\n \"Nobody Else But Me\" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) – 5:17\n \"Lush Life\" (Billy Strayhorn) – 7:15\n\nPersonnel\n Joe Pass – guitar\n\nReferences\n\nJoe Pass live albums\nLive albums published posthumously\n2001 live albums\nPablo Records live albums",
"\n\nTrack listing\n Opening Overture\n \"I Get a Kick Out of You\" (Cole Porter)\n \"You Are the Sunshine of My Life\" (Stevie Wonder)\n \"You Will Be My Music\" (Joe Raposo)\n \"Don't Worry 'bout Me\" (Ted Koehler, Rube Bloom)\n \"If\" (David Gates)\n \"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown\" (Jim Croce)\n \"Ol' Man River\" (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II)\n Famous Monologue\n Saloon Trilogy: \"Last Night When We Were Young\"/\"Violets for Your Furs\"/\"Here's That Rainy Day\" (Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg)/(Matt Dennis, Tom Adair)/(Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke)\n \"I've Got You Under My Skin\" (Porter)\n \"My Kind of Town\" (Sammy Cahn, Van Heusen)\n \"Let Me Try Again\" (Paul Anka, Cahn, Michel Jourdan)\n \"The Lady Is a Tramp\" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)\n \"My Way\" (Anka, Claude Francois, Jacques Revaux, Gilles Thibaut)\n\nFrank Sinatra's Monologue About the Australian Press\nI do believe this is my interval, as we say... We've been having a marvelous time being chased around the country for three days. You know, I think it's worth mentioning because it's so idiotic, it's so ridiculous what's been happening. We came all the way to Australia because I chose to come here. I haven't been here for a long time and I wanted to come back for a few days. Wait now, wait. I'm not buttering anybody at all. I don't have to. I really don't have to. I like coming here. I like the people. I love your attitude. I like the booze and the beer and everything else that comes into the scene. I also like the way the country's growing and it's a swinging place.\n\nSo we come here and what happens? We gotta run all day long because of the parasites who chase us with automobiles. That's dangerous, too, on the road, you know. Might cause an accident. They won't quit. They wonder why I won't talk to them. I wouldn't drink their water, let alone talk to them. And if any of you folks in the press are in the audience, please quote me properly. Don't mix it up, do it exactly as I'm saying it, please. Write it down very clearly. One idiot called me up and he wanted to know what I had for breakfast. What the hell does he care what I had for breakfast? I was about to tell him what I did after breakfast. Oh, boy, they're murder! We have a name in the States for their counterparts: They're called parasites. Because they take and take and take and never give, absolutely, never give. I don't care what you think about any press in the world, I say they're bums and they'll always be bums, everyone of them. There are just a few exceptions to the rule. Some good editorial writers who don't go out in the street and chase people around. Critics don't bother me, because if I do badly, I know I'm bad before they even write it, and if I'm good, I know I'm good before they write it. It's true. I know best about myself. So, a critic is a critic. He doesn't anger me. It's the scandal man who bugs you, drives you crazy. It's the two-bit-type work that they do. They're pimps. They're just crazy, you know. And the broads who work in the press are the hookers of the press. Need I explain that to you? I might offer them a buck and a half... I'm not sure. I once gave a chick in Washington $2 and I overpaid her, I found out. She didn't even bathe. Imagine what that was like, ha, ha.\n\nNow, it's a good thing I'm not angry. Really. It's a good thing I'm not angry. I couldn't care less. The press of the world never made a person a star who was untalented, nor did they ever hurt any artist who was talented. So we, who have God-given talent, say, \"To hell with them.\" It doesn't make any difference, you know. And I want to say one more thing. From what I see what's happened since I was last here... what, 16 years ago? Twelve years ago. From what I've seen to happen with the type of news that they print in this town shocked me. And do you know what is devastating? It's old-fashioned. It was done in America and England twenty years ago. And they're catching up with it now, with the scandal sheet. They're rags, that's what they are. You use them to train your dog and your parrot. What else do I have to say? Oh, I guess that's it. That'll keep them talking to themselves for a while. I think most of them are a bunch of fags anyway. Never did a hard day's work in their life. I love when they say, \"What do you mean, you won't stand still when I take your picture?\" All of a sudden, they're God. We gotta do what they want us to do. It's incredible. A pox on them... Now, let's get down to some serious business here...\n\nSee also\nConcerts of Frank Sinatra\n\nFrank Sinatra"
] |
[
"Peter Hitchens",
"Political views",
"Was Peter politically active?",
"Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003.",
"Did he write about politics?",
"\". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues,",
"What were his feelings about religion",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist,",
"What does he think is going wrong in Britain?",
"the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist\", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote \"in all my experience in life,",
"What did he say about in all his experience?",
"life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection,",
"What else did he say?",
"and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State.\""
] |
C_a64f840f9f874453a75b9be1302b4b2d_0
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Did he follow a particular religion?
| 8 |
Did Peter Hitchens follow a particular religion?
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Peter Hitchens
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Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997, but left in 2003. He challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999, accusing Portillo of "washy moderation". However, he says that he had "no interest in securing the nomination" and "no chance" of doing so, his real reasons having been to gain book publicity and "to draw attention to Michael Portillo's non-conservative politics". Hitchens believes that no party he could support will be created until the Conservative Party disintegrates, an event he first began calling for in 2006. From 2008, he claimed that what would facilitate such a collapse would be for the Conservative Party to lose the 2010 general election. In 2012, Hitchens announced he was once more considering standing as a Member of Parliament and called for British citizens to form "small exploratory committees in existing constituencies, under the Justice and Liberty motto". Hitchens mainly comments on political and religious issues, and generally espouses a social conservative viewpoint. He is deeply pessimistic about recent, present and future Britain and sees himself as Britain's obituarist, writing about what he sees as the death of Britain for future historians to look back on. In 2010 Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist", and in 2010 Hitchens himself wrote "in all my experience in life, I have seldom seen a more powerful argument for the fallen nature of man, and his inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held.". CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
Previously a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party, Hitchens became more conservative during the 1990s. He joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003, and has since been deeply critical of them and opposed many of their policies. His conservative Christian political views, such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and support of stricter recreational drug policies, have been met with criticism and debate in the United Kingdom. His older brother was author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens has frequently criticised the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular lockdowns and mandates that the public wear face masks.
Personal life
Early life and family
Peter Hitchens was born in Malta, where his father, Eric Ernest Hitchens (1909–1987), a naval officer, was stationed as part of the then Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. Hitchens had hoped to become a naval officer himself, but an eye defect prevented him from doing so. His mother, Yvonne Jean Hitchens (née Hickman; 1921–1973) had met Eric while serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) during World War II.
As a boy, Hitchens wanted to be an officer in the Royal Navy, like his father. However, when he was 10, he learned he had a lazy eye that could not be corrected, thereby barring him from serving in the Royal Navy.
Hitchens attended Mount House School, Tavistock, the Leys School, and the Oxford College of Further Education before being accepted at the University of York, where he studied Philosophy and Politics and was a member of Alcuin College, graduating in 1973.
He married Eve Ross, the daughter of journalist David Ross, in 1983. They have a daughter and two sons. Their elder son, Dan, was editor of the Catholic Herald, a London-based Roman Catholic newspaper. Hitchens lives in Oxford.
Religion
Hitchens was brought up in the Christian faith and attended Christian boarding schools but became an atheist, beginning to leave his faith at 15. He returned to church later in life, and is now an Anglican and a member of the Church of England.
Hitchens has Jewish descent via his maternal grandmother, a daughter of Polish Jewish migrants. His grandmother revealed this fact upon meeting his wife Eve Ross. Though his brother Christopher was quick to embrace his Jewish identity following the principle of matrilineal descent, Peter noted that they were only one-32nd Jewish by descent and has not identified as Jewish himself.
Relationship with his brother
Hitchens' only sibling was the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who was two years older. Christopher said in 2005 that the main difference between the two was belief in the existence of God.
Peter was a member of the International Socialists (forerunners of the modern Socialist Workers' Party) from 1968 to 1975 (beginning at age 17) after Christopher introduced him to them.
The brothers fell out after Peter wrote a 2001 article in The Spectator which allegedly characterised Christopher as a Stalinist. After the birth of Peter's third child, the two brothers reconciled.
Peter's review of his brother's book God Is Not Great led to a public argument between the brothers but no renewed estrangement. In the review, Peter wrote that his brother's book made a number of incorrect assertions.
In 2007, the brothers appeared as panellists on BBC TV's Question Time, where they clashed on a number of issues. In 2008, in the US, they debated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the existence of God. In 2010 at the Pew Research Center, the pair debated the nature of God in civilisation.
Christopher died in 2011; at a memorial service held for him in New York, Peter read a passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians which Christopher had read at their father's funeral.
Journalism
He joined the Labour Party in 1977 but left shortly after campaigning for Ken Livingstone in 1979, thinking it was wrong to carry a party card when directly reporting politics, and coinciding with a culmination of growing personal disillusionment with the Labour movement.
Hitchens began his journalistic career on the local press in Swindon and then at the Coventry Evening Telegraph. He then worked for the Daily Express between 1977 and 2000, initially as a reporter specialising in education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and subsequently as deputy political editor. Leaving parliamentary journalism to cover defence and diplomatic affairs, he reported on the decline and collapse of communist regimes in several Warsaw Pact countries, which culminated in a stint as Moscow correspondent and reporting on life there during the final months of the Soviet Union and the early years of the Russian Federation in 1990–92. He took part in reporting the UK 1992 general election, closely following Neil Kinnock. He then became the Daily Express Washington correspondent. Returning to Britain in 1995, he became a commentator and columnist.
In 2000, Hitchens left the Daily Express after its acquisition by Richard Desmond, stated that working for him would have represented a moral conflict of interest. Hitchens joined The Mail on Sunday, where he has a weekly column and weblog in which he debates directly with readers. Hitchens has also written for The Spectator and The American Conservative magazines, and occasionally for The Guardian, Prospect, and the New Statesman.
After being shortlisted in 2007 and 2009, Hitchens won the Orwell Prize in political journalism in 2010. Peter Kellner, one of the Orwell Prize judges, described Hitchens's writing as being "as firm, polished and potentially lethal as a Guardsman's boot."
A regular on British radio and television, Hitchens has been on Question Time, Any Questions?, This Week, The Daily Politics and The Big Questions. He has authored and presented several documentaries on Channel 4, including critical examinations of Nelson Mandela and David Cameron. In the late 1990s, Hitchens co-presented a programme on Talk Radio UK with Derek Draper and Austin Mitchell.
In 2010, Hitchens was described by Edward Lucas in The Economist as "a forceful, tenacious, eloquent and brave journalist. He lambasts woolly thinking and crooked behaviour at home and abroad." In 2009, Anthony Howard wrote of Hitchens, "the old revolutionary socialist has lost nothing of his passion and indignation as the years have passed us all by. It is merely the convictions that have changed, not the fervour and fanaticism with which they continue to be held."
Foreign reporting
Hitchens first worked as a foreign reporter in the 1980s, mainly reporting from the Eastern Bloc, with his first such assignment to Poland during the Solidarity crisis in November 1980. He travelled to Japan and Germany during his time as an industrial reporter and reported from several other countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea as part of the group of reporters accompanying Margaret Thatcher. After witnessing the Velvet Revolution and the Romanian Revolution, he became the Daily Express resident Moscow Correspondent in June 1990. He left Moscow (via the Bering Strait) in October 1992, and was briefly based in London during which time he reported from South Africa during the last days of apartheid, and from Somalia at the time of the United Nations intervention in the Somali Civil War.
In September 1993 he became the Daily Express resident Washington correspondent and, during the next two years, he reported from many of the 50 states, as well as from Canada, Haiti and Cuba. He continued his foreign reporting after joining The Mail on Sunday, for which he has written reports from all over the globe, including Russia, Ukraine (described by Edward Lucas as a "dismaying lapse"), Turkey, Gaza, a visit to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion, an undercover report from Iran (described by Iain Dale as "quite brilliant"), China, and North Korea.
Political views
Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, a social democrat and more recently, a Gaullist. In 2010, Michael Gove, writing in The Times, asserted that, for Hitchens, what is more important than the split between the Left and the Right is "the deeper gulf between the restless progressive and the Christian pessimist." Hitchens joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and left in 2003. This was when he challenged Michael Portillo for the Conservative nomination in the Kensington and Chelsea seat in 1999.
He has been consistently dismissive of the modern UK Conservative Party since the 1990s. This is because he believes that the party has since then abandoned true social conservatism. His view is that conservatism should embody a Burkean sense of public duty, conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty. Furthermore, this view holds a general hostility to hasty reforms and adventurism. This was central to his criticism of many policy proposals by the New Labour government, which he viewed as attacks on liberty and facets of a constitutional revolution. He believes the Conservative Party should be a defender of establishment institutions such as the church and the monarchy, but has shifted to social liberalism instead. He believes that atheism, along with cultural liberalism, are the causes of the systematic undermining of Christianity. Hitchens has written "The left's real interests are moral, cultural, sexual and social. They lead to a powerful state. This is not because they actively set out to achieve one." He also believes that the First World War and the devolution of marriage are the causes of the demise of Christianity in Europe.
In his book The Cameron Delusion, Hitchens argues that in the last few decades, the party has become virtually "indistinguishable from Blairite New Labour". He thinks the Conservative Party is now just a vehicle for "obtaining office for the sons of gentlemen" and he loathes the party. Hitchens's claim that the "Conservatives are now the main Left-wing party in the country" in his Mail on Sunday column has been met with much criticism.
He is in favour of capital punishment, and was the only British journalist to attend and write about the execution of British-born Nicholas Ingram in America in 1995.
He is opposed to the privatisation of railways.
Hitchens has been a prominent member of the campaign to clear the name of the late Bishop of Chichester, George Bell from allegations of child sexual abuse. He has argued that the Church of England convicted him in what he described as a kangaroo court, and stated his wish that allegations are not treated as proven facts.
Writings and thought
Hitchens often comments on current issues and wider political and philosophical subjects.
He is a supporter of grammar schools.
War and terrorism
Hitchens takes a critical stance on many wars. He was opposed to the Kosovo and 2003 Iraq War, on the grounds that neither was in the interests of either Britain or the United States, and opposed the war in Afghanistan.
He believes that the UK should never have joined in World War I, and is very critical of the view that World War II was "The Good War". His view on World War II is laid out in his book The Phoney Victory, in which he argues that the UK entered World War II too early, and that the UK overly glorifies World War II. He argues that while the allies were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’ carpet bombing of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. Hitchens' views on the UK in World War II been met with criticism by historians, with Richard J. Evans describing his book The Phoney Victory as 'riddled with errors'.
However, Hitchens is not anti-war since he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.
Hitchens wrote about his concern of the use of security (anti-terrorism) legislation and increased police powers under New Labour, and how it has been used to suppress civil liberties; in Channel 4's Dispatches, Hitchens said the result of this legislation was that Britain ended up "sleepwalking into a Big Brother state".
European Union
Peter Hitchens is very critical of the European Union and has argued for many years that Britain would be better off outside it. In 2017 he endorsed the Flexcit model proposed by Richard North and Christopher Booker as the most sensible and moderate way to leave the EU while remaining in the European Economic Area to preserve the economic benefits of EU membership. However, he did not vote in the 2016 UK EU referendum because he is critical of referendums. Instead of a referendum, he argued that a leave decision would be best done by voting into power a political party whose manifesto committed the country to withdrawal by an act of Parliament.
Vaccination
Hitchens promoted anti-vaccination views and misinformation about the MMR vaccine following the Lancet MMR autism fraud. He asked in a 2001 article: "Is it really our duty to risk our children's lives with this jab?" In 2013, he defended this earlier article, saying he was criticising "State bossiness in an age that has seen a catalogue of mistakes, panics and mysteries in the world of disease and medicine" and referred to the thalidomide scandal. He has defended discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.
After being vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, Hitchens rejected accusations he is an anti-vaxxer, but said that he was "more or less forced to have an immunisation I would not normally have bothered with".
War on drugs
Hitchens has written about the enforcement of drug laws, most notably in his book The War We Never Fought (2012). He advocates harsher penalties properly enforced for possession and illegal use of cannabis, claiming that "cannabis has been mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it's potentially extremely dangerous." He is opposed to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs in general. In 2012, Hitchens gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy, and called for the British government to introduce a more hard-line policy on drugs. Hitchens disagrees with the notion of drug addiction, arguing that it goes against the notion of free will. He says: "People take drugs because they enjoy it."
LGBT rights and marriage
Hitchens has strongly criticised the transgender rights movement, claiming that it promotes zealotry and that changes in traditional gender roles in society are "destroying truth itself".
Hitchens was one of the most outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage in 2013, the year before same-sex marriage was legal in Britain. However, in speaking to Guardian journalist Owen Jones in 2015, he said his real issue was with the decline of heterosexual marriage in society and the legalisation "of what was in effect no-fault divorce", and that same-sex marriage is "a side-effect ... It's a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion. Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?"
In 2019, the University of Buckingham organised a "free-speech society" after Hitchens' "no-platforming" by the University of Portsmouth over his views on gay rights, which they believed would cause conflict with LGBT events on campus. Hitchens was the first guest invited by the society to address students. In response to his being no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth, Hitchens was invited by the Archivist and the Head of History and Politics at The Portsmouth Grammar School to give a short talk on "The myth of Russian aggression" to Sixth Form pupils.
Environment
Hitchens rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has criticised wind power in the United Kingdom and argued in 2015 that its expansion put the UK at risk of blackouts.
Rhodes Must Fall movement
Upon reporting on the third day of Rhodes Must Fall protests at Oxford University in June 2020, footage of Hitchens strolling through the streets of the university, followed by protesters who opposed his presence, emerged. One video, edited and set to "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, went viral and was watched nearly one million times. Speaking to Mike Graham on talkRADIO, Hitchens described the protests as "the Establishment on parade".
COVID-19 pandemic
Hitchens has repeatedly criticised the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His statements casting doubt on the scientific efficacy of pandemic restrictions have been described as misinformation by several sources.
He has particularly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK, suggesting they would have negative consequences and questioned their epidemiological efficacy. Hitchens also criticised Imperial College London modelling, which suggested that there could be up to 500,000 COVID-19 deaths if the government did not impose a lockdown.
He has been a proponent of Sweden's response to the pandemic.
He has been against the mandatory wearing of face masks during the pandemic, referring to them as "face muzzles" or "face nappies". He also believes that government mandates to wear face coverings are oppressive.
Publications
Hitchens is the author of The Abolition of Britain (1999) and A Brief History of Crime (2003), both critical of changes in British society since the 1960s. A compendium of his Daily Express columns was published as Monday Morning Blues in 2000. A Brief History of Crime was reissued as The Abolition of Liberty in April 2004, with an additional chapter on identity cards ("Your papers, please"), and with two chapters – on gun control ("Out of the barrel of a gun") and capital punishment ("Cruel and unusual") – removed.
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way was published in May 2009, and The Rage Against God was published in Britain in March 2010, and in the US in May.
Hitchens's book The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, about what he sees as the non-existence of the war on drugs, was published by Bloomsbury in the autumn of 2012.
In June 2014, Hitchens published his first e-book, Short Breaks in Mordor, a compendium of foreign reports.
The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It addresses what Hitchens views as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes did long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. It was negatively reviewed by the historian Richard Evans in the New Statesman, who described the book as "riddled with errors".
Bibliography
The Abolition of Britain (1999)
Monday Morning Blues (2000)
A Brief History of Crime (2003), updated in paperback as The Abolition of Liberty: The Decline of Order and Justice in England (2004)
The Broken Compass (2009), updated in paperback as The Cameron Delusion (2010)
The Rage Against God (2010)
The War We Never Fought (2012)
Short Breaks in Mordor (2014)
The Phoney Victory (2018)
Unconventional Wisdom (2020)
See also
Christian right
Traditionalist conservatism
References
External links
1951 births
Alumni of the University of York
British anti-communists
British male journalists
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of atheism
Critics of Marxism
Daily Express people
Daily Mail journalists
English Anglicans
English bloggers
English columnists
Former Marxists
Former atheists and agnostics
British social commentators
Living people
People educated at The Leys School
People from Tavistock
People from Sliema
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
20th-century British writers
21st-century British writers
Labour Party (UK) people
Conservative Party (UK) people
Critics of multiculturalism
English anti–Iraq War activists
British male bloggers
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[
"Adherence, Adherer, and derivative terms may refer to:\n\nHealthcare\n Adherence (medicine), the obedience of the patient to the medical advice\n Adhesion (medicine), abnormal bands of tissue that grow in the human body\n\nOther uses\nAdherent point, mathematical notion, also known as closure point, point of closure or contact point\n Adhesion, the tendency of dissimilar particles or surfaces to cling to one another\n Religious adherence, when people follow a particular religion",
"A sālik is a follower of Sufism, from the verb salaka which means to travel or follow, related to sulūk \"pathway\". Sulūk here specifically refers to a spiritual path, i.e. the combination of the two \"paths\" that can be followed in religion, the exoteric path or shariah, and the esoteric path or haqiqa.\nThe \"path\" metaphor is derived from the Qur'an: see sura 16, (An-Nahl, The Bees), ayat 69: \nfaslukī subula rabbiki dhululan \"and follow the ways of your Lord made easy [for you]\", which uses the imperative of the verb salaka which means to follow or to travel.\n\nA sālik is also called murid when one becomes a disciple to one particular spiritual teacher (murshid) or a Sufi master.\n\nSee also\nTariqa\n Talibe\n Murid\n Wassil\n Majzoob\n\nReferences\nL. Levisohn, 'The Spiritual Journey in Kubrawi Sufism' in: Lawson (ed.), ''Reason and Inspiration in Islam: Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in Muslim Thought, 2006, , [books.google.ch/books?id=Bq9zSbNr8gIC&pg=PA364 364-379].\n\nSufi philosophy\nIslamic terminology"
] |
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"Sinhalese people",
"Cuisine"
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C_cb0c7ab5bea842028a3f9178be3e2a19_0
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Which of the Sinhalese people cuisine was mentioned?
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Which of the Sinhalese people's cuisine was mentioned?
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Sinhalese people
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. Due to its proximity to South India, Sinhalese cuisine shows some influence, yet is in many ways quite distinct. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning "Milk Rice." In addition to sambols, Sinhalese eat "Mallung"- chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour. Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a "main curry" of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "sambols". The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. CANNOTANSWER
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia.
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Sinhalese people () are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people (). They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and
other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
According to the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura led by Prince Vijaya who mixed with the indigenous Yakka and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom.
Etymology
From the Sanskrit word Sinhala, meaning literally "of lions".
The Mahavamsa records the origin of the Sinhalese people and related historical events. It traces the historical origin of the Sinhalese people back to the first king who mentioned in the documentary history of Sri Lanka, Vijaya, who is the son of Sinhabahu (Sanskrit meaning 'Sinha' (lion) + 'bahu' (hands, feet), the ruler of Sinhapura. Some versions suggest Vijaya is the grandson of Sinhabahu. According to the Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu was the son of princess Suppadevi of Vanga, who copulated with a lion and gave birth to a daughter called Sinhasivali and to a son, Sinhabahu, whose hands and feet were like the paws of a lion and who had the strength of a lion. King Vijaya, the lineage of Sinhabahu, according to the Mahavamsa and other historical sources, arrived on the island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) and gave origin to the lion people, Sinhalese.
The story of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka and the origin of the Sinhalese people is also depicted in the Ajanta caves, in a mural of cave number 17. According to Arisen Ahubudu, there were four major clans of "hela" in ancient Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, and that Sri Lanka was called as "Siv hela" (siv=four in the Sinhala language) and later it was changed into "Sinhala".
History
The early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century CE, and the later Culavamsa (the first segment probably penned in the 13th century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources that cover the histories of the powerful ancient Sinhalese kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which lasted for 1500 years. The Mahavamsa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well-developed agrarian society.
Pre Anuradhapura period
According to Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers left Suppāraka, landed on the island at a site believed by historians to be in the district of Puttalam, south of modern-day Mannar and founded the Kingdom of Thambapanni. It is recorded the Vijaya made his landing on the day of Buddha's Parinirvana. Vijaya claimed Tambapanni his capital and soon the whole island come under this name. Tambapanni was originally inhabited and governed by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu and their queen Kuveni. According to the Samyutta Commentary, Tambapanni was one hundred leagues in extent.
At the end of his reign, Vijaya, having trouble choosing a successor, sent a letter to the city of his ancestors, Sinhapura, in order to invite his brother Sumitta to take over the throne. However, Vijaya had died before the letter had reached its destination, so the elected minister of the people Upatissa, the Chief government minister or prime minister and leading chief among the Sinhalese became regent and acted as regent for a year. After his coronation, which was held in the Kingdom of Tambapanni, he left it, building another one, bearing his own name. While he was king, Upatissa established the new capital Upatissa, in which the kingdom was moved to from the Kingdom of Tambapanni. When Vijaya's letter arrived, Sumitta had already succeeded his father as king of his country, and so he sent his son Panduvasdeva to rule Upatissa Nuwara.
Upatissa Nuwara was seven or eight miles further north of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
It was named after the regent king Upatissa, who was the prime minister of Vijaya, and was founded in 505 BC after the death of Vijaya and the end of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura period
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled from the dynasty.
Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Polonnaruwa period
During the Middle Ages Sri Lanka was well known for its agricultural prosperity under king Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa during which period the island was famous around the world as the rice mill of the east.
Transitional period
Later in the 13th century the country's administrative provinces were divided into independent kingdoms and chieftaincies: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Kingdom of Kotte, Jaffna Kingdom and the Kandyan kingdom. The invasion by the Hindu king Magha in the 13th century led to migrations by the Buddhists (mostly Sinhalese) to areas not under his control. This migration was followed by a period of conflict among the Sinhalese chiefs who tried to exert political supremacy. Parakramabahu VI, a Sinhalese king invaded the Jaffna Kingdom and conquered it, bringing the entire country back under the Sinhalese kingdom. Trade also increased during this period, as Sri Lanka began to trade cinnamon and a large number of Muslim traders were bought into the island.
In the 15th century a Kandyan Kingdom formed which divided the Sinhalese politically into low-country and up-country. In this period, the Sinhalese caste structure absorbed recent Dravidian Hindu immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups - the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.
Modern history
The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries.
Society
Demographics
Sri Lanka
Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the South, Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western parts of the country. This coincides with the largest Sinhalese populations areas in Sri Lanka. Cities with more than 90% Sinhalese population include Hambantota, Galle, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Diaspora
Sinhalese people have emigrated out to many countries for a variety of reasons. The larger diaspora communities are situated in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada among others. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with employment and/or education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.
The largest population centres of the Sinhalese diaspora are mainly situated in Europe, North America and Australia. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. The 2011 census recorded 86,412 Sri Lanka born in Australia. There are 73,849 Australians (0.4 of the population) who reported having Sinhalese ancestry in 2006. Sinhala was also reported to be the 29th-fastest-growing language in Australia (ranking above Somali but behind Hindi and Belarusian). Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,220 people identified themselves as of Sinhalese ancestry, out of 139,415 Sri Lankans. There are a small number of Sinhalese people in India, scattered around the country, but mainly living in and around the northern and southern regions. Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. The numbers arriving continued to increase, and at the 2018 census there were over 16,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand among those 9,171 were Sinhalese.
In the U.S, the Sinhalese number about 12,000 people. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many Sinhalese have migrated to Italy since the 1970s. Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries. It is estimated that there are 30,000-33,000 Sinhalese in Italy. The major Sinhalese communities in Italy are located in Lombardia (In the districts Loreto and Lazzaretto), Milan, Lazio, Rome, Naples, and Southern Italy (Particularly Palermo, Messina and Catania). It should be noted however that many countries census list Sri Lankan which also includes Sri Lankan Tamils so the numbers of just Sinhalese are not as accurate when the census states Sri Lankan and not Sinhalese. Though Sinhalese people in particular and Sri Lankans in general have migrated to the UK over the centuries beginning from the colonial times, the number of Sinhalese people in the UK cannot be estimated accurately due to inadequacies of census in the UK. The UK government does not record statistics on the basis of language or ethnicity and all Sri Lankans are classified into one group as Asian British or Asian Other.
Language and literature
Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language within the broader group of Indo-European languages. The early form of the language was brought to Sri Lanka by the ancestors of the Sinhalese people from northern India who settled on the island in the 6th century BCE. Sinhala developed in a way different from the other Indo-Aryan languages because of the geographic separation from its Indo-Aryan sister languages. It was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, Telugu and Sanskrit. Many early texts in the language such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also adopted many loanwords of foreign origin, including from many Indian such as Tamil and European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
Sandesha Kavyas written by Buddhist priests of Sri Lanka are regarded as some of the most sophisticated and versatile works of literature in the world. The Sinhala language was mainly inspired by Sanskrit and Pali, and many words of the Sinhala language derive from these languages. Today some English words too have come in as a result of the British occupation during colonial times, and the exposure to foreign cultures through television and foreign films. Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. In the Negombo area bilingual fishermen who generally identify themselves as Sinhalese also speak the Negombo Tamil dialect. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala.
Folk tales like Mahadana Muttha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Muttha tells the tale of a fool cum Pundit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.
In the modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.
Religion
The form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is known as Theravada (school of elders). The Pali chronicles (e.g., the Mahavansa) claim that the Sinhalese as an ethnic group are destined to preserve and protect Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhala speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Observations of current religious beliefs and practices demonstrate that the Sinhalese, as a religious community, have a complex worldview as Buddhists. Due to the proximity and on some occasions similarity of certain doctrines, there are many areas where Buddhists and Hindus share religious views and practices. Sinhalese Buddhists have adopted religious elements from Hindu traditions in their religious practices. Some of these practices may relate to ancient indigenous beliefs and traditions on spirits (folk religion), and the worship of Hindu deities. Some of these figures are used in healing rituals and may be native to the island. Gods and goddess derived from Hindu deities are worshiped by Sinhalese. Kataragama Deviyo from Kartikeya, Upulvan from Vishnu and Ayyanayake from Aiyanar can be named as examples. Though these gods take the same place as their Hindu counterparts in mythology, some of their aspects are different compared to the original gods.
Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term "Protestant Buddhism" to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period. This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organising religious practices. They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organising Buddhists with new organisations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.
Christianity
There is a significant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule. Most Sinhalese Christians are Roman Catholic; a minority are Protestant. Their cultural centre is Negombo.
Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.
Genetics
Modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil influence. Gujarati and Punjabi lineages are also visible. In relation to the former, other studies also show the Sinhalese possess some genetic admixture from Southeast Asian populations, especially from Austroasiatic groups. Certain Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups and genetic markers of immunoglobulin among the Sinhalese, for example, show Southeast Asian genetic influences many of which are also found among certain Northeast Indian populations to whom the Sinhalese are genetically related.
Culture
Sinhalese culture is a unique one dating as far back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhala stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhalese instruments. More ancient rituals like (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and invoked the good powers of the Buddha and the gods in order to exorcise the demons.
Folklore and national mythology
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Bengal. The modern Sinhalese people were found genetically to be most closely related to the people of North-East India (Bengal). It is thought throughout Sri Lanka's history, since the founding of the Sinhalese in the 5th century BC that an influx of Indians from North India came to the island. This is further supported from Sinhala being part of the Indo-Aryan language group.
Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a long-sleeved shirt with a sarong. Clothing varies by region for women. Low country Sinhalese women wear a white Long sleeved jacket, and a tight wrap around skirt, which usually is embedded with a floral or pattern design. As for the up country Sinhalese, women wear a similar outfit, but with a puffed up shoulder jacket, and a tucked in frill that lines the top of the skirt (Reda and Hatte in Sinhala). Traditionally, high caste Kandyan women wear a Kandyan style sari, which is similar to the Maharashtrian sari, with the drape but with a frill lining the bottom half and sometimes puffed up sleeves. It’s also called an Osariya. The low country high caste women wear a South Indian style saree. Within the more populated areas, Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing — wearing suits while the women wear skirts and blouses. For formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. In many occasions and functions, even the saree plays an important role in women's clothing and has become the de facto clothing for female office workers especially in government sector. An example of its use is the uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Cuisine
Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning ‘milk rice’. In addition to , Sinhalese eat , chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais, rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.
The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a main curry of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and . The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.
Art and architecture
Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. It has many different and beautiful drawings.
Developed upon Indo-Aryan architectural skills in the late 6th century BCE Sinhalese people who lived upon greater kingdoms such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa have built so many architectural examples such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya - second tallest brick building in the ancient world after Great Pyramid of Giza, and Abayagiriya - third tallest brick building in the ancient world. And also with the ancient hydraulic technology which is also unique to Sinhalese people to build ancient tanks, systematic ponds with fountains moats and Irrigational reservoirs such as Parakrama Samudra, Kaudulla and Kandalama. Sigiriya which is considered by many as the 8th wonder of the world, it is a combination of natural and man made fortress, which consists so many architectural aspects.
Music
There are extensive folk poems relating to specific jobs of the ancient society. These poems were communal songs which had a rhythm that were sung when performing day-to-day tasks like harvesting and sowing.
Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as Sunil Shantha, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, Austin Munasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.
Film and theatre
Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalised the drama form with Maname in 1956. The same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhalese cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne, Asoka Handagama, and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhalese cinema. Sinhala cinema is often made colourful with the incorporation of songs and dance adding more uniqueness to the industry.
In the recent years high budget films like Aloko Udapadi, Aba (film) and Maharaja Gemunu based on Sinhalese epic historical stories gain huge success.
Performing arts
Performing arts of the Sinhalese people can be categorised into few groups:
Kandyan dance consist of 18 Wannam (dance routines) featuring behaviours of various animals such as elephant, eagle, cobra, monkey, peacock and rabbit, mainly performing in the annual Perahara pageant in Sri Dalada Maligawa Kandy.
Pahatharata dance have a significant dancing style which is used to cure illnesses and spiritual clarification. The main feature of these dances is dancers wear masks representing various gods and demons, and use elements such as fire and water to bless people.
Sabaragamuwa dances have also a significant dancing style, mainly to entertain people.
Folk music and dances differ according to the casts of Sinhalese people and also some times regionally—mainly popular among small children, especially girls. These arts are widely performed during the Sinhalese New Year period.
Martial arts
Angampora is the traditional martial art of the Sinhalese people. It combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise and meditation. Key techniques observed in Angampora are: Angam, which incorporates hand-to-hand fighting, and Illangam, which uses indigenous weapons such as Velayudaya, staves, knives and swords. Its most distinct feature is the use of pressure point attacks to inflict pain or permanently paralyse the opponent. Fighters usually make use of both striking and grappling techniques, and fight until the opponent is caught in a submission lock that they cannot escape. Usage of weapons is discretionary. Perimeters of fighting are defined in advance, and in some of the cases is a pit. Angampora became nearly extinct after the country came under British rule in 1815, but survived in a few families until the country regained independence.
Science and education
The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.
Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.
The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonisation maintained religion as the centre of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.
By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.
Medicine
Traditional Sinhalese villages in early days had at least one chief Medical personnel called Weda Mahaththaya (Doctor). These people practice their clinical activities by inheritance. Sinhalese Medicine resembles some of Ayurvedic practices in contrast for some treatments they use Buddhist Chantings (Pirith) in order to strengthen the effectiveness.
According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle, Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (437 BC – 367 BC) had lying-in-homes and Ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Mihintale Hospital is the oldest in the world.
See also
List of Sinhalese people
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
References
Citations
Sources
De Silva, K. M. History of Sri Lanka (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1981)
Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).
External links
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
Ethnologue-Sinhala, a language of Sri Lanka
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Who are the Sinhalese
Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean
Indo-Aryan peoples
Sinhalese diaspora
Sinhalese culture
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"Wariyapola Sri Sumangala (Sinhala:වාරියපොල ශ්රි සුමංගල) was a Buddhist monk who lived in the early 19th century in Sri Lanka (then known as Sinhale). He was an Anunayaka of the Asgiriya Chapter. Sri Sumangala is known for taking down the Union Jack and re-hoisting the Sinhalese lion flag, before the convention that handed over control of the island to the British in 1815. Later during the rebellion of 1818, he removed the Tooth Relic of the Buddha from the Temple of the Tooth, and handed it over to the leaders of the rebellion. He was arrested and convicted for treason the same year.\n\nPersonal life\nSri Sumangala Thero was born as Bamunakotuwe Ralahamige Kirihami, in Bamunakotuwa (village of Wariyapola)in the Kurunegala district. His father's name was Herath Mudiyanselage Bamunakotuve Rala. Kirihami was ordained as a Buddhist monk in the Asgiriya Chapter of the Siam Nikaya by a monk named Navinne Dhammadassi, and named Wariyapola Sri Sumangala (Sri Sumangala of Wariyapola). He later obtained Upasampada as well. He quickly rose through the hierarchy of the Nikaya, and was eventually appointed an anunayaka—a sub-chief monk second to the mahanayaka— of the Asgiriya Chapter. He was the chief monk of the Sailathalaarama in Wariyapola, now named after him as Sri Sumangala Pirivena Raja Maha Viharaya.\n\n1815 convention\n\nIn 1815, Sinhalese leaders drew up the Kandyan Convention with the British, handing over control of the country to them. On the day this agreement was to be signed (2 March 1815) at the Temple of the Tooth, a British soldier had taken down the Sinhalese flag and hoisted the Union Jack. Sri Sumangala had taken it down and raised the Sinhalese flag again, declaring that until the convention was signed the country still belonged to the Sinhalese and their flag will fly until that time. This \"Sinhalese flag\" is believed to be the lion flag used by the last rulers of the country, and this event is mentioned in the books recording the history of the Asgiriya Chapter.\n\n1818 rebellion\n\nIn 1818, a rebellion started in the uplands of the country against the British rule. With the outbreak of this rebellion, Sri Sumangala removed the Relic of the tooth of Buddha from the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, and went into hiding in Hanguranketa. He later handed it over to Keppetipola Disawe, who was leading the rebellion. The possession of the Tooth Relic was traditionally regarded as a symbol of the right to rule the country, and the acquisition of it was a large morale boost to the rebels, who intensified their activities after that. However, the British captured Sri Sumangala in November 1818 and recovered the Tooth Relic, which they ceremonially brought into Kandy again. The rebellion ended soon after this. Sri Sumangala was convicted for treason and imprisoned in Jaffna. Some accounts say that he was released on 13 April 1821 by order of the then Governor of Ceylon.\n\nReferences\n\nPrisoners and detainees of British Ceylon\nNational Heroes of Sri Lanka\nSri Lankan Buddhist monks\nYear of death missing\nPeople of the Kingdom of Kandy\nYear of birth unknown\nSinhalese monks\nPeople of British Ceylon\nBritish Ceylon period\nKandyan period",
"Gova Kaldu is a traditional Sri Lankan spiced cabbage and chicken broth. It was often served with Idiyappam (string hoppers).\n\nThis dish is most likely of Portuguese origin, its name, kaldu is derived from caldo, the Portuguese name for broth and gova from the Portuguese cabbage known as couve tronchuda.\n\nIt was quite popular among elite Sinhalese families of the olden days until the early part of the 20th century.\n\nSee also\n\n Caldo verde\n List of soups\n\nReferences\n\nSri Lankan cuisine\nVegetable soups\nChicken soups"
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"Sinhalese people",
"Cuisine",
"Which of the Sinhalese people cuisine was mentioned?",
"Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia."
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Do they name the process or equipment in making the cuisine?
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Do the Sinhalese name the process or equipment in making Sinhalese cuisine?
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Sinhalese people
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. Due to its proximity to South India, Sinhalese cuisine shows some influence, yet is in many ways quite distinct. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning "Milk Rice." In addition to sambols, Sinhalese eat "Mallung"- chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour. Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a "main curry" of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "sambols". The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. CANNOTANSWER
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The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry.
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Sinhalese people () are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people (). They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and
other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
According to the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura led by Prince Vijaya who mixed with the indigenous Yakka and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom.
Etymology
From the Sanskrit word Sinhala, meaning literally "of lions".
The Mahavamsa records the origin of the Sinhalese people and related historical events. It traces the historical origin of the Sinhalese people back to the first king who mentioned in the documentary history of Sri Lanka, Vijaya, who is the son of Sinhabahu (Sanskrit meaning 'Sinha' (lion) + 'bahu' (hands, feet), the ruler of Sinhapura. Some versions suggest Vijaya is the grandson of Sinhabahu. According to the Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu was the son of princess Suppadevi of Vanga, who copulated with a lion and gave birth to a daughter called Sinhasivali and to a son, Sinhabahu, whose hands and feet were like the paws of a lion and who had the strength of a lion. King Vijaya, the lineage of Sinhabahu, according to the Mahavamsa and other historical sources, arrived on the island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) and gave origin to the lion people, Sinhalese.
The story of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka and the origin of the Sinhalese people is also depicted in the Ajanta caves, in a mural of cave number 17. According to Arisen Ahubudu, there were four major clans of "hela" in ancient Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, and that Sri Lanka was called as "Siv hela" (siv=four in the Sinhala language) and later it was changed into "Sinhala".
History
The early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century CE, and the later Culavamsa (the first segment probably penned in the 13th century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources that cover the histories of the powerful ancient Sinhalese kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which lasted for 1500 years. The Mahavamsa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well-developed agrarian society.
Pre Anuradhapura period
According to Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers left Suppāraka, landed on the island at a site believed by historians to be in the district of Puttalam, south of modern-day Mannar and founded the Kingdom of Thambapanni. It is recorded the Vijaya made his landing on the day of Buddha's Parinirvana. Vijaya claimed Tambapanni his capital and soon the whole island come under this name. Tambapanni was originally inhabited and governed by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu and their queen Kuveni. According to the Samyutta Commentary, Tambapanni was one hundred leagues in extent.
At the end of his reign, Vijaya, having trouble choosing a successor, sent a letter to the city of his ancestors, Sinhapura, in order to invite his brother Sumitta to take over the throne. However, Vijaya had died before the letter had reached its destination, so the elected minister of the people Upatissa, the Chief government minister or prime minister and leading chief among the Sinhalese became regent and acted as regent for a year. After his coronation, which was held in the Kingdom of Tambapanni, he left it, building another one, bearing his own name. While he was king, Upatissa established the new capital Upatissa, in which the kingdom was moved to from the Kingdom of Tambapanni. When Vijaya's letter arrived, Sumitta had already succeeded his father as king of his country, and so he sent his son Panduvasdeva to rule Upatissa Nuwara.
Upatissa Nuwara was seven or eight miles further north of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
It was named after the regent king Upatissa, who was the prime minister of Vijaya, and was founded in 505 BC after the death of Vijaya and the end of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura period
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled from the dynasty.
Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Polonnaruwa period
During the Middle Ages Sri Lanka was well known for its agricultural prosperity under king Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa during which period the island was famous around the world as the rice mill of the east.
Transitional period
Later in the 13th century the country's administrative provinces were divided into independent kingdoms and chieftaincies: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Kingdom of Kotte, Jaffna Kingdom and the Kandyan kingdom. The invasion by the Hindu king Magha in the 13th century led to migrations by the Buddhists (mostly Sinhalese) to areas not under his control. This migration was followed by a period of conflict among the Sinhalese chiefs who tried to exert political supremacy. Parakramabahu VI, a Sinhalese king invaded the Jaffna Kingdom and conquered it, bringing the entire country back under the Sinhalese kingdom. Trade also increased during this period, as Sri Lanka began to trade cinnamon and a large number of Muslim traders were bought into the island.
In the 15th century a Kandyan Kingdom formed which divided the Sinhalese politically into low-country and up-country. In this period, the Sinhalese caste structure absorbed recent Dravidian Hindu immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups - the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.
Modern history
The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries.
Society
Demographics
Sri Lanka
Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the South, Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western parts of the country. This coincides with the largest Sinhalese populations areas in Sri Lanka. Cities with more than 90% Sinhalese population include Hambantota, Galle, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Diaspora
Sinhalese people have emigrated out to many countries for a variety of reasons. The larger diaspora communities are situated in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada among others. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with employment and/or education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.
The largest population centres of the Sinhalese diaspora are mainly situated in Europe, North America and Australia. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. The 2011 census recorded 86,412 Sri Lanka born in Australia. There are 73,849 Australians (0.4 of the population) who reported having Sinhalese ancestry in 2006. Sinhala was also reported to be the 29th-fastest-growing language in Australia (ranking above Somali but behind Hindi and Belarusian). Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,220 people identified themselves as of Sinhalese ancestry, out of 139,415 Sri Lankans. There are a small number of Sinhalese people in India, scattered around the country, but mainly living in and around the northern and southern regions. Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. The numbers arriving continued to increase, and at the 2018 census there were over 16,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand among those 9,171 were Sinhalese.
In the U.S, the Sinhalese number about 12,000 people. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many Sinhalese have migrated to Italy since the 1970s. Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries. It is estimated that there are 30,000-33,000 Sinhalese in Italy. The major Sinhalese communities in Italy are located in Lombardia (In the districts Loreto and Lazzaretto), Milan, Lazio, Rome, Naples, and Southern Italy (Particularly Palermo, Messina and Catania). It should be noted however that many countries census list Sri Lankan which also includes Sri Lankan Tamils so the numbers of just Sinhalese are not as accurate when the census states Sri Lankan and not Sinhalese. Though Sinhalese people in particular and Sri Lankans in general have migrated to the UK over the centuries beginning from the colonial times, the number of Sinhalese people in the UK cannot be estimated accurately due to inadequacies of census in the UK. The UK government does not record statistics on the basis of language or ethnicity and all Sri Lankans are classified into one group as Asian British or Asian Other.
Language and literature
Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language within the broader group of Indo-European languages. The early form of the language was brought to Sri Lanka by the ancestors of the Sinhalese people from northern India who settled on the island in the 6th century BCE. Sinhala developed in a way different from the other Indo-Aryan languages because of the geographic separation from its Indo-Aryan sister languages. It was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, Telugu and Sanskrit. Many early texts in the language such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also adopted many loanwords of foreign origin, including from many Indian such as Tamil and European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
Sandesha Kavyas written by Buddhist priests of Sri Lanka are regarded as some of the most sophisticated and versatile works of literature in the world. The Sinhala language was mainly inspired by Sanskrit and Pali, and many words of the Sinhala language derive from these languages. Today some English words too have come in as a result of the British occupation during colonial times, and the exposure to foreign cultures through television and foreign films. Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. In the Negombo area bilingual fishermen who generally identify themselves as Sinhalese also speak the Negombo Tamil dialect. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala.
Folk tales like Mahadana Muttha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Muttha tells the tale of a fool cum Pundit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.
In the modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.
Religion
The form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is known as Theravada (school of elders). The Pali chronicles (e.g., the Mahavansa) claim that the Sinhalese as an ethnic group are destined to preserve and protect Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhala speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Observations of current religious beliefs and practices demonstrate that the Sinhalese, as a religious community, have a complex worldview as Buddhists. Due to the proximity and on some occasions similarity of certain doctrines, there are many areas where Buddhists and Hindus share religious views and practices. Sinhalese Buddhists have adopted religious elements from Hindu traditions in their religious practices. Some of these practices may relate to ancient indigenous beliefs and traditions on spirits (folk religion), and the worship of Hindu deities. Some of these figures are used in healing rituals and may be native to the island. Gods and goddess derived from Hindu deities are worshiped by Sinhalese. Kataragama Deviyo from Kartikeya, Upulvan from Vishnu and Ayyanayake from Aiyanar can be named as examples. Though these gods take the same place as their Hindu counterparts in mythology, some of their aspects are different compared to the original gods.
Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term "Protestant Buddhism" to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period. This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organising religious practices. They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organising Buddhists with new organisations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.
Christianity
There is a significant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule. Most Sinhalese Christians are Roman Catholic; a minority are Protestant. Their cultural centre is Negombo.
Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.
Genetics
Modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil influence. Gujarati and Punjabi lineages are also visible. In relation to the former, other studies also show the Sinhalese possess some genetic admixture from Southeast Asian populations, especially from Austroasiatic groups. Certain Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups and genetic markers of immunoglobulin among the Sinhalese, for example, show Southeast Asian genetic influences many of which are also found among certain Northeast Indian populations to whom the Sinhalese are genetically related.
Culture
Sinhalese culture is a unique one dating as far back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhala stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhalese instruments. More ancient rituals like (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and invoked the good powers of the Buddha and the gods in order to exorcise the demons.
Folklore and national mythology
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Bengal. The modern Sinhalese people were found genetically to be most closely related to the people of North-East India (Bengal). It is thought throughout Sri Lanka's history, since the founding of the Sinhalese in the 5th century BC that an influx of Indians from North India came to the island. This is further supported from Sinhala being part of the Indo-Aryan language group.
Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a long-sleeved shirt with a sarong. Clothing varies by region for women. Low country Sinhalese women wear a white Long sleeved jacket, and a tight wrap around skirt, which usually is embedded with a floral or pattern design. As for the up country Sinhalese, women wear a similar outfit, but with a puffed up shoulder jacket, and a tucked in frill that lines the top of the skirt (Reda and Hatte in Sinhala). Traditionally, high caste Kandyan women wear a Kandyan style sari, which is similar to the Maharashtrian sari, with the drape but with a frill lining the bottom half and sometimes puffed up sleeves. It’s also called an Osariya. The low country high caste women wear a South Indian style saree. Within the more populated areas, Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing — wearing suits while the women wear skirts and blouses. For formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. In many occasions and functions, even the saree plays an important role in women's clothing and has become the de facto clothing for female office workers especially in government sector. An example of its use is the uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Cuisine
Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning ‘milk rice’. In addition to , Sinhalese eat , chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais, rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.
The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a main curry of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and . The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.
Art and architecture
Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. It has many different and beautiful drawings.
Developed upon Indo-Aryan architectural skills in the late 6th century BCE Sinhalese people who lived upon greater kingdoms such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa have built so many architectural examples such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya - second tallest brick building in the ancient world after Great Pyramid of Giza, and Abayagiriya - third tallest brick building in the ancient world. And also with the ancient hydraulic technology which is also unique to Sinhalese people to build ancient tanks, systematic ponds with fountains moats and Irrigational reservoirs such as Parakrama Samudra, Kaudulla and Kandalama. Sigiriya which is considered by many as the 8th wonder of the world, it is a combination of natural and man made fortress, which consists so many architectural aspects.
Music
There are extensive folk poems relating to specific jobs of the ancient society. These poems were communal songs which had a rhythm that were sung when performing day-to-day tasks like harvesting and sowing.
Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as Sunil Shantha, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, Austin Munasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.
Film and theatre
Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalised the drama form with Maname in 1956. The same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhalese cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne, Asoka Handagama, and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhalese cinema. Sinhala cinema is often made colourful with the incorporation of songs and dance adding more uniqueness to the industry.
In the recent years high budget films like Aloko Udapadi, Aba (film) and Maharaja Gemunu based on Sinhalese epic historical stories gain huge success.
Performing arts
Performing arts of the Sinhalese people can be categorised into few groups:
Kandyan dance consist of 18 Wannam (dance routines) featuring behaviours of various animals such as elephant, eagle, cobra, monkey, peacock and rabbit, mainly performing in the annual Perahara pageant in Sri Dalada Maligawa Kandy.
Pahatharata dance have a significant dancing style which is used to cure illnesses and spiritual clarification. The main feature of these dances is dancers wear masks representing various gods and demons, and use elements such as fire and water to bless people.
Sabaragamuwa dances have also a significant dancing style, mainly to entertain people.
Folk music and dances differ according to the casts of Sinhalese people and also some times regionally—mainly popular among small children, especially girls. These arts are widely performed during the Sinhalese New Year period.
Martial arts
Angampora is the traditional martial art of the Sinhalese people. It combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise and meditation. Key techniques observed in Angampora are: Angam, which incorporates hand-to-hand fighting, and Illangam, which uses indigenous weapons such as Velayudaya, staves, knives and swords. Its most distinct feature is the use of pressure point attacks to inflict pain or permanently paralyse the opponent. Fighters usually make use of both striking and grappling techniques, and fight until the opponent is caught in a submission lock that they cannot escape. Usage of weapons is discretionary. Perimeters of fighting are defined in advance, and in some of the cases is a pit. Angampora became nearly extinct after the country came under British rule in 1815, but survived in a few families until the country regained independence.
Science and education
The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.
Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.
The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonisation maintained religion as the centre of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.
By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.
Medicine
Traditional Sinhalese villages in early days had at least one chief Medical personnel called Weda Mahaththaya (Doctor). These people practice their clinical activities by inheritance. Sinhalese Medicine resembles some of Ayurvedic practices in contrast for some treatments they use Buddhist Chantings (Pirith) in order to strengthen the effectiveness.
According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle, Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (437 BC – 367 BC) had lying-in-homes and Ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Mihintale Hospital is the oldest in the world.
See also
List of Sinhalese people
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
References
Citations
Sources
De Silva, K. M. History of Sri Lanka (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1981)
Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).
External links
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
Ethnologue-Sinhala, a language of Sri Lanka
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Who are the Sinhalese
Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean
Indo-Aryan peoples
Sinhalese diaspora
Sinhalese culture
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"Fesikh or fseekh ( ) is a traditional celebratory ancient Egyptian dish. It is eaten by the Egyptians during the Sham el-Nessim festival in Egypt, which is a spring celebration from ancient Egyptian times and is a national festival in Egypt. Fesikh consists of fermented, salted and dried gray mullet of the genus Mugil, a saltwater fish that lives in both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas.\n\nPreparation\nThe traditional process of preparing fesikh is to dry the fish in the sun before preserving it in salt. The process is quite elaborate, passing from generation to generation in certain families. The occupation has a special name in Egypt, fasakhani. Egyptians in the West have used whitefish as an alternative.\n\nHazard\nEach year, reports of a few cases of food poisoning involving incorrectly prepared fesikh appear in Egyptian periodicals, especially during the Sham el-Nessim festival, when the Egyptians consume this traditional pickled fish.\n\nIn April 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for whole fesikh mullet, cut up fesikh mullet in oil, and whole fesikh shad that were sold from a store in Toronto. There were three reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the products, which may have been contaminated with Clostridium botulinum bacteria.\n\nHowever, these reports never deterred the Egyptians from eating this celebratory dish, since they pertain only to improperly prepared fesikh and to expired or contaminated fesikh; the Egyptian ministry of health constantly urges the Egyptians to buy their fesikh from known and trusted vendors and to check expiration dates, or to prepare it properly if they do so at home, and stores selling the fish are constantly investigated.\n\nSee also \n List of Middle Eastern dishes\n\n \n \n \n (an Icelandic shark dish fermented in salt)\n\nReferences\n\nArab cuisine\nEgyptian cuisine\nPalestinian cuisine\nDried fish\nFermented foods\nPotentially dangerous food\nFish dishes\nMiddle Eastern cuisine"
] |
[
"Sinhalese people",
"Cuisine",
"Which of the Sinhalese people cuisine was mentioned?",
"Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia.",
"Do they name the process or equipment in making the cuisine?",
"The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry."
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What else was mentioned about this cuisine?
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What else was mentioned about Sinhalese cuisine besides mainly consisting of steamed or boiled rice served with curry?
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Sinhalese people
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. Due to its proximity to South India, Sinhalese cuisine shows some influence, yet is in many ways quite distinct. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning "Milk Rice." In addition to sambols, Sinhalese eat "Mallung"- chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour. Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a "main curry" of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "sambols". The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. CANNOTANSWER
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Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka.
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Sinhalese people () are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people (). They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and
other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
According to the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura led by Prince Vijaya who mixed with the indigenous Yakka and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom.
Etymology
From the Sanskrit word Sinhala, meaning literally "of lions".
The Mahavamsa records the origin of the Sinhalese people and related historical events. It traces the historical origin of the Sinhalese people back to the first king who mentioned in the documentary history of Sri Lanka, Vijaya, who is the son of Sinhabahu (Sanskrit meaning 'Sinha' (lion) + 'bahu' (hands, feet), the ruler of Sinhapura. Some versions suggest Vijaya is the grandson of Sinhabahu. According to the Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu was the son of princess Suppadevi of Vanga, who copulated with a lion and gave birth to a daughter called Sinhasivali and to a son, Sinhabahu, whose hands and feet were like the paws of a lion and who had the strength of a lion. King Vijaya, the lineage of Sinhabahu, according to the Mahavamsa and other historical sources, arrived on the island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) and gave origin to the lion people, Sinhalese.
The story of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka and the origin of the Sinhalese people is also depicted in the Ajanta caves, in a mural of cave number 17. According to Arisen Ahubudu, there were four major clans of "hela" in ancient Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, and that Sri Lanka was called as "Siv hela" (siv=four in the Sinhala language) and later it was changed into "Sinhala".
History
The early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century CE, and the later Culavamsa (the first segment probably penned in the 13th century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources that cover the histories of the powerful ancient Sinhalese kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which lasted for 1500 years. The Mahavamsa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well-developed agrarian society.
Pre Anuradhapura period
According to Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers left Suppāraka, landed on the island at a site believed by historians to be in the district of Puttalam, south of modern-day Mannar and founded the Kingdom of Thambapanni. It is recorded the Vijaya made his landing on the day of Buddha's Parinirvana. Vijaya claimed Tambapanni his capital and soon the whole island come under this name. Tambapanni was originally inhabited and governed by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu and their queen Kuveni. According to the Samyutta Commentary, Tambapanni was one hundred leagues in extent.
At the end of his reign, Vijaya, having trouble choosing a successor, sent a letter to the city of his ancestors, Sinhapura, in order to invite his brother Sumitta to take over the throne. However, Vijaya had died before the letter had reached its destination, so the elected minister of the people Upatissa, the Chief government minister or prime minister and leading chief among the Sinhalese became regent and acted as regent for a year. After his coronation, which was held in the Kingdom of Tambapanni, he left it, building another one, bearing his own name. While he was king, Upatissa established the new capital Upatissa, in which the kingdom was moved to from the Kingdom of Tambapanni. When Vijaya's letter arrived, Sumitta had already succeeded his father as king of his country, and so he sent his son Panduvasdeva to rule Upatissa Nuwara.
Upatissa Nuwara was seven or eight miles further north of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
It was named after the regent king Upatissa, who was the prime minister of Vijaya, and was founded in 505 BC after the death of Vijaya and the end of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura period
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled from the dynasty.
Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Polonnaruwa period
During the Middle Ages Sri Lanka was well known for its agricultural prosperity under king Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa during which period the island was famous around the world as the rice mill of the east.
Transitional period
Later in the 13th century the country's administrative provinces were divided into independent kingdoms and chieftaincies: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Kingdom of Kotte, Jaffna Kingdom and the Kandyan kingdom. The invasion by the Hindu king Magha in the 13th century led to migrations by the Buddhists (mostly Sinhalese) to areas not under his control. This migration was followed by a period of conflict among the Sinhalese chiefs who tried to exert political supremacy. Parakramabahu VI, a Sinhalese king invaded the Jaffna Kingdom and conquered it, bringing the entire country back under the Sinhalese kingdom. Trade also increased during this period, as Sri Lanka began to trade cinnamon and a large number of Muslim traders were bought into the island.
In the 15th century a Kandyan Kingdom formed which divided the Sinhalese politically into low-country and up-country. In this period, the Sinhalese caste structure absorbed recent Dravidian Hindu immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups - the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.
Modern history
The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries.
Society
Demographics
Sri Lanka
Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the South, Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western parts of the country. This coincides with the largest Sinhalese populations areas in Sri Lanka. Cities with more than 90% Sinhalese population include Hambantota, Galle, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Diaspora
Sinhalese people have emigrated out to many countries for a variety of reasons. The larger diaspora communities are situated in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada among others. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with employment and/or education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.
The largest population centres of the Sinhalese diaspora are mainly situated in Europe, North America and Australia. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. The 2011 census recorded 86,412 Sri Lanka born in Australia. There are 73,849 Australians (0.4 of the population) who reported having Sinhalese ancestry in 2006. Sinhala was also reported to be the 29th-fastest-growing language in Australia (ranking above Somali but behind Hindi and Belarusian). Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,220 people identified themselves as of Sinhalese ancestry, out of 139,415 Sri Lankans. There are a small number of Sinhalese people in India, scattered around the country, but mainly living in and around the northern and southern regions. Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. The numbers arriving continued to increase, and at the 2018 census there were over 16,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand among those 9,171 were Sinhalese.
In the U.S, the Sinhalese number about 12,000 people. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many Sinhalese have migrated to Italy since the 1970s. Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries. It is estimated that there are 30,000-33,000 Sinhalese in Italy. The major Sinhalese communities in Italy are located in Lombardia (In the districts Loreto and Lazzaretto), Milan, Lazio, Rome, Naples, and Southern Italy (Particularly Palermo, Messina and Catania). It should be noted however that many countries census list Sri Lankan which also includes Sri Lankan Tamils so the numbers of just Sinhalese are not as accurate when the census states Sri Lankan and not Sinhalese. Though Sinhalese people in particular and Sri Lankans in general have migrated to the UK over the centuries beginning from the colonial times, the number of Sinhalese people in the UK cannot be estimated accurately due to inadequacies of census in the UK. The UK government does not record statistics on the basis of language or ethnicity and all Sri Lankans are classified into one group as Asian British or Asian Other.
Language and literature
Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language within the broader group of Indo-European languages. The early form of the language was brought to Sri Lanka by the ancestors of the Sinhalese people from northern India who settled on the island in the 6th century BCE. Sinhala developed in a way different from the other Indo-Aryan languages because of the geographic separation from its Indo-Aryan sister languages. It was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, Telugu and Sanskrit. Many early texts in the language such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also adopted many loanwords of foreign origin, including from many Indian such as Tamil and European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
Sandesha Kavyas written by Buddhist priests of Sri Lanka are regarded as some of the most sophisticated and versatile works of literature in the world. The Sinhala language was mainly inspired by Sanskrit and Pali, and many words of the Sinhala language derive from these languages. Today some English words too have come in as a result of the British occupation during colonial times, and the exposure to foreign cultures through television and foreign films. Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. In the Negombo area bilingual fishermen who generally identify themselves as Sinhalese also speak the Negombo Tamil dialect. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala.
Folk tales like Mahadana Muttha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Muttha tells the tale of a fool cum Pundit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.
In the modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.
Religion
The form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is known as Theravada (school of elders). The Pali chronicles (e.g., the Mahavansa) claim that the Sinhalese as an ethnic group are destined to preserve and protect Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhala speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Observations of current religious beliefs and practices demonstrate that the Sinhalese, as a religious community, have a complex worldview as Buddhists. Due to the proximity and on some occasions similarity of certain doctrines, there are many areas where Buddhists and Hindus share religious views and practices. Sinhalese Buddhists have adopted religious elements from Hindu traditions in their religious practices. Some of these practices may relate to ancient indigenous beliefs and traditions on spirits (folk religion), and the worship of Hindu deities. Some of these figures are used in healing rituals and may be native to the island. Gods and goddess derived from Hindu deities are worshiped by Sinhalese. Kataragama Deviyo from Kartikeya, Upulvan from Vishnu and Ayyanayake from Aiyanar can be named as examples. Though these gods take the same place as their Hindu counterparts in mythology, some of their aspects are different compared to the original gods.
Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term "Protestant Buddhism" to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period. This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organising religious practices. They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organising Buddhists with new organisations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.
Christianity
There is a significant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule. Most Sinhalese Christians are Roman Catholic; a minority are Protestant. Their cultural centre is Negombo.
Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.
Genetics
Modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil influence. Gujarati and Punjabi lineages are also visible. In relation to the former, other studies also show the Sinhalese possess some genetic admixture from Southeast Asian populations, especially from Austroasiatic groups. Certain Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups and genetic markers of immunoglobulin among the Sinhalese, for example, show Southeast Asian genetic influences many of which are also found among certain Northeast Indian populations to whom the Sinhalese are genetically related.
Culture
Sinhalese culture is a unique one dating as far back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhala stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhalese instruments. More ancient rituals like (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and invoked the good powers of the Buddha and the gods in order to exorcise the demons.
Folklore and national mythology
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Bengal. The modern Sinhalese people were found genetically to be most closely related to the people of North-East India (Bengal). It is thought throughout Sri Lanka's history, since the founding of the Sinhalese in the 5th century BC that an influx of Indians from North India came to the island. This is further supported from Sinhala being part of the Indo-Aryan language group.
Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a long-sleeved shirt with a sarong. Clothing varies by region for women. Low country Sinhalese women wear a white Long sleeved jacket, and a tight wrap around skirt, which usually is embedded with a floral or pattern design. As for the up country Sinhalese, women wear a similar outfit, but with a puffed up shoulder jacket, and a tucked in frill that lines the top of the skirt (Reda and Hatte in Sinhala). Traditionally, high caste Kandyan women wear a Kandyan style sari, which is similar to the Maharashtrian sari, with the drape but with a frill lining the bottom half and sometimes puffed up sleeves. It’s also called an Osariya. The low country high caste women wear a South Indian style saree. Within the more populated areas, Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing — wearing suits while the women wear skirts and blouses. For formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. In many occasions and functions, even the saree plays an important role in women's clothing and has become the de facto clothing for female office workers especially in government sector. An example of its use is the uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Cuisine
Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning ‘milk rice’. In addition to , Sinhalese eat , chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais, rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.
The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a main curry of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and . The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.
Art and architecture
Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. It has many different and beautiful drawings.
Developed upon Indo-Aryan architectural skills in the late 6th century BCE Sinhalese people who lived upon greater kingdoms such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa have built so many architectural examples such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya - second tallest brick building in the ancient world after Great Pyramid of Giza, and Abayagiriya - third tallest brick building in the ancient world. And also with the ancient hydraulic technology which is also unique to Sinhalese people to build ancient tanks, systematic ponds with fountains moats and Irrigational reservoirs such as Parakrama Samudra, Kaudulla and Kandalama. Sigiriya which is considered by many as the 8th wonder of the world, it is a combination of natural and man made fortress, which consists so many architectural aspects.
Music
There are extensive folk poems relating to specific jobs of the ancient society. These poems were communal songs which had a rhythm that were sung when performing day-to-day tasks like harvesting and sowing.
Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as Sunil Shantha, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, Austin Munasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.
Film and theatre
Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalised the drama form with Maname in 1956. The same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhalese cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne, Asoka Handagama, and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhalese cinema. Sinhala cinema is often made colourful with the incorporation of songs and dance adding more uniqueness to the industry.
In the recent years high budget films like Aloko Udapadi, Aba (film) and Maharaja Gemunu based on Sinhalese epic historical stories gain huge success.
Performing arts
Performing arts of the Sinhalese people can be categorised into few groups:
Kandyan dance consist of 18 Wannam (dance routines) featuring behaviours of various animals such as elephant, eagle, cobra, monkey, peacock and rabbit, mainly performing in the annual Perahara pageant in Sri Dalada Maligawa Kandy.
Pahatharata dance have a significant dancing style which is used to cure illnesses and spiritual clarification. The main feature of these dances is dancers wear masks representing various gods and demons, and use elements such as fire and water to bless people.
Sabaragamuwa dances have also a significant dancing style, mainly to entertain people.
Folk music and dances differ according to the casts of Sinhalese people and also some times regionally—mainly popular among small children, especially girls. These arts are widely performed during the Sinhalese New Year period.
Martial arts
Angampora is the traditional martial art of the Sinhalese people. It combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise and meditation. Key techniques observed in Angampora are: Angam, which incorporates hand-to-hand fighting, and Illangam, which uses indigenous weapons such as Velayudaya, staves, knives and swords. Its most distinct feature is the use of pressure point attacks to inflict pain or permanently paralyse the opponent. Fighters usually make use of both striking and grappling techniques, and fight until the opponent is caught in a submission lock that they cannot escape. Usage of weapons is discretionary. Perimeters of fighting are defined in advance, and in some of the cases is a pit. Angampora became nearly extinct after the country came under British rule in 1815, but survived in a few families until the country regained independence.
Science and education
The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.
Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.
The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonisation maintained religion as the centre of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.
By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.
Medicine
Traditional Sinhalese villages in early days had at least one chief Medical personnel called Weda Mahaththaya (Doctor). These people practice their clinical activities by inheritance. Sinhalese Medicine resembles some of Ayurvedic practices in contrast for some treatments they use Buddhist Chantings (Pirith) in order to strengthen the effectiveness.
According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle, Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (437 BC – 367 BC) had lying-in-homes and Ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Mihintale Hospital is the oldest in the world.
See also
List of Sinhalese people
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
References
Citations
Sources
De Silva, K. M. History of Sri Lanka (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1981)
Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).
External links
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
Ethnologue-Sinhala, a language of Sri Lanka
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Who are the Sinhalese
Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean
Indo-Aryan peoples
Sinhalese diaspora
Sinhalese culture
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[
"Tracta, tractum (), also called laganon, laganum, or lagana () was a kind of drawn out or rolled-out pastry dough in Roman and Greek cuisines.\n\nWhat exactly it was is unclear:<ref name=\"perry\">Charles Perry, \"What was tracta?\", Petits Propos Culinaires 12:37-9 (1982) and a note in 14</ref> \"Latin tracta... appears to be a kind of pastry. It is hard to be sure, because its making is never described fully\"; and it may have meant different things at different periods. Laganon/laganum was at different periods an unleavened bread, a pancake, or later, perhaps a sort of pasta.Tracta is mentioned in the Apicius as a thickener for liquids. Vehling's translation of Apicius glosses it as \"a piece of pastry, a round bread or roll in this case, stale, best suited for this purpose.\" Perry compares it to a \"ship's biscuit\".\n\nIt is also mentioned in Cato the Elder's recipe for placenta cake, layered with cheese.\n\nAthenaeus's Deipnosophistae mentions a kind of cake called , \"known as \", which uses a bread dough, but is baked differently.\n\nSome writers connect it to modern Italian lasagne, of which it is the etymon, but most authors deny that it was pasta.Clifford A. Wright, \"The History of Macaroni\" \n\nThere is a modern Greek leavened flatbread called lagana'', but it is not clear when the name was first applied to a leavened bread.\n\nNotes\n\nAncient Greek cuisine\nRoman cuisine\nGreek cuisine\nDoughs\nAncient dishes",
"Poume d'oranges, also referred to as pome dorreng and pommedorry, is a characteristic gilded (coated) pork meatball dish from Medieval cuisine that was a part of the food culture during the Middle Ages. The dish was prepared to resemble the color of oranges, which was performed by using an egg yolk glaze. Poume d'oranges dish was often used for courtly English feasts and is listed in Medieval cooking manuscripts. The dish was denoted as pome dorreng on the coronation menu for Henry IV of England.\n\nPoume d'oranges is mentioned in Anglo-Norman manuscripts and other documents, which points to the influence of Arab cuisine on European cuisine. This influence is most likely due to the fact that Normans conquered Sicily in the 11th century, which was dominated by Arabs for several centuries. In southern Spain, the Moors ruled for centuries. A similar dish of Medieval origin is Teste de Turke.\n\nSee also\n List of meatball dishes\n List of pork dishes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Poume d’orange. The Medieval Kitchen. \nMedieval cuisine\nMeatballs\nPork dishes"
] |
[
"Sinhalese people",
"Cuisine",
"Which of the Sinhalese people cuisine was mentioned?",
"Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia.",
"Do they name the process or equipment in making the cuisine?",
"The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry.",
"What else was mentioned about this cuisine?",
"Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka."
] |
C_cb0c7ab5bea842028a3f9178be3e2a19_0
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Was there any other cuisine mentioned?
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Was there any other cuisine mentioned besides Sinhalese?
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Sinhalese people
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. Due to its proximity to South India, Sinhalese cuisine shows some influence, yet is in many ways quite distinct. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning "Milk Rice." In addition to sambols, Sinhalese eat "Mallung"- chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour. Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a "main curry" of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "sambols". The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. CANNOTANSWER
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In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island,
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Sinhalese people () are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people (). They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and
other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
According to the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura led by Prince Vijaya who mixed with the indigenous Yakka and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom.
Etymology
From the Sanskrit word Sinhala, meaning literally "of lions".
The Mahavamsa records the origin of the Sinhalese people and related historical events. It traces the historical origin of the Sinhalese people back to the first king who mentioned in the documentary history of Sri Lanka, Vijaya, who is the son of Sinhabahu (Sanskrit meaning 'Sinha' (lion) + 'bahu' (hands, feet), the ruler of Sinhapura. Some versions suggest Vijaya is the grandson of Sinhabahu. According to the Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu was the son of princess Suppadevi of Vanga, who copulated with a lion and gave birth to a daughter called Sinhasivali and to a son, Sinhabahu, whose hands and feet were like the paws of a lion and who had the strength of a lion. King Vijaya, the lineage of Sinhabahu, according to the Mahavamsa and other historical sources, arrived on the island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) and gave origin to the lion people, Sinhalese.
The story of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka and the origin of the Sinhalese people is also depicted in the Ajanta caves, in a mural of cave number 17. According to Arisen Ahubudu, there were four major clans of "hela" in ancient Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, and that Sri Lanka was called as "Siv hela" (siv=four in the Sinhala language) and later it was changed into "Sinhala".
History
The early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century CE, and the later Culavamsa (the first segment probably penned in the 13th century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources that cover the histories of the powerful ancient Sinhalese kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which lasted for 1500 years. The Mahavamsa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well-developed agrarian society.
Pre Anuradhapura period
According to Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers left Suppāraka, landed on the island at a site believed by historians to be in the district of Puttalam, south of modern-day Mannar and founded the Kingdom of Thambapanni. It is recorded the Vijaya made his landing on the day of Buddha's Parinirvana. Vijaya claimed Tambapanni his capital and soon the whole island come under this name. Tambapanni was originally inhabited and governed by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu and their queen Kuveni. According to the Samyutta Commentary, Tambapanni was one hundred leagues in extent.
At the end of his reign, Vijaya, having trouble choosing a successor, sent a letter to the city of his ancestors, Sinhapura, in order to invite his brother Sumitta to take over the throne. However, Vijaya had died before the letter had reached its destination, so the elected minister of the people Upatissa, the Chief government minister or prime minister and leading chief among the Sinhalese became regent and acted as regent for a year. After his coronation, which was held in the Kingdom of Tambapanni, he left it, building another one, bearing his own name. While he was king, Upatissa established the new capital Upatissa, in which the kingdom was moved to from the Kingdom of Tambapanni. When Vijaya's letter arrived, Sumitta had already succeeded his father as king of his country, and so he sent his son Panduvasdeva to rule Upatissa Nuwara.
Upatissa Nuwara was seven or eight miles further north of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
It was named after the regent king Upatissa, who was the prime minister of Vijaya, and was founded in 505 BC after the death of Vijaya and the end of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura period
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled from the dynasty.
Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Polonnaruwa period
During the Middle Ages Sri Lanka was well known for its agricultural prosperity under king Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa during which period the island was famous around the world as the rice mill of the east.
Transitional period
Later in the 13th century the country's administrative provinces were divided into independent kingdoms and chieftaincies: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Kingdom of Kotte, Jaffna Kingdom and the Kandyan kingdom. The invasion by the Hindu king Magha in the 13th century led to migrations by the Buddhists (mostly Sinhalese) to areas not under his control. This migration was followed by a period of conflict among the Sinhalese chiefs who tried to exert political supremacy. Parakramabahu VI, a Sinhalese king invaded the Jaffna Kingdom and conquered it, bringing the entire country back under the Sinhalese kingdom. Trade also increased during this period, as Sri Lanka began to trade cinnamon and a large number of Muslim traders were bought into the island.
In the 15th century a Kandyan Kingdom formed which divided the Sinhalese politically into low-country and up-country. In this period, the Sinhalese caste structure absorbed recent Dravidian Hindu immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups - the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.
Modern history
The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries.
Society
Demographics
Sri Lanka
Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the South, Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western parts of the country. This coincides with the largest Sinhalese populations areas in Sri Lanka. Cities with more than 90% Sinhalese population include Hambantota, Galle, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Diaspora
Sinhalese people have emigrated out to many countries for a variety of reasons. The larger diaspora communities are situated in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada among others. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with employment and/or education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.
The largest population centres of the Sinhalese diaspora are mainly situated in Europe, North America and Australia. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. The 2011 census recorded 86,412 Sri Lanka born in Australia. There are 73,849 Australians (0.4 of the population) who reported having Sinhalese ancestry in 2006. Sinhala was also reported to be the 29th-fastest-growing language in Australia (ranking above Somali but behind Hindi and Belarusian). Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,220 people identified themselves as of Sinhalese ancestry, out of 139,415 Sri Lankans. There are a small number of Sinhalese people in India, scattered around the country, but mainly living in and around the northern and southern regions. Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. The numbers arriving continued to increase, and at the 2018 census there were over 16,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand among those 9,171 were Sinhalese.
In the U.S, the Sinhalese number about 12,000 people. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many Sinhalese have migrated to Italy since the 1970s. Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries. It is estimated that there are 30,000-33,000 Sinhalese in Italy. The major Sinhalese communities in Italy are located in Lombardia (In the districts Loreto and Lazzaretto), Milan, Lazio, Rome, Naples, and Southern Italy (Particularly Palermo, Messina and Catania). It should be noted however that many countries census list Sri Lankan which also includes Sri Lankan Tamils so the numbers of just Sinhalese are not as accurate when the census states Sri Lankan and not Sinhalese. Though Sinhalese people in particular and Sri Lankans in general have migrated to the UK over the centuries beginning from the colonial times, the number of Sinhalese people in the UK cannot be estimated accurately due to inadequacies of census in the UK. The UK government does not record statistics on the basis of language or ethnicity and all Sri Lankans are classified into one group as Asian British or Asian Other.
Language and literature
Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language within the broader group of Indo-European languages. The early form of the language was brought to Sri Lanka by the ancestors of the Sinhalese people from northern India who settled on the island in the 6th century BCE. Sinhala developed in a way different from the other Indo-Aryan languages because of the geographic separation from its Indo-Aryan sister languages. It was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, Telugu and Sanskrit. Many early texts in the language such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also adopted many loanwords of foreign origin, including from many Indian such as Tamil and European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
Sandesha Kavyas written by Buddhist priests of Sri Lanka are regarded as some of the most sophisticated and versatile works of literature in the world. The Sinhala language was mainly inspired by Sanskrit and Pali, and many words of the Sinhala language derive from these languages. Today some English words too have come in as a result of the British occupation during colonial times, and the exposure to foreign cultures through television and foreign films. Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. In the Negombo area bilingual fishermen who generally identify themselves as Sinhalese also speak the Negombo Tamil dialect. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala.
Folk tales like Mahadana Muttha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Muttha tells the tale of a fool cum Pundit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.
In the modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.
Religion
The form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is known as Theravada (school of elders). The Pali chronicles (e.g., the Mahavansa) claim that the Sinhalese as an ethnic group are destined to preserve and protect Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhala speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Observations of current religious beliefs and practices demonstrate that the Sinhalese, as a religious community, have a complex worldview as Buddhists. Due to the proximity and on some occasions similarity of certain doctrines, there are many areas where Buddhists and Hindus share religious views and practices. Sinhalese Buddhists have adopted religious elements from Hindu traditions in their religious practices. Some of these practices may relate to ancient indigenous beliefs and traditions on spirits (folk religion), and the worship of Hindu deities. Some of these figures are used in healing rituals and may be native to the island. Gods and goddess derived from Hindu deities are worshiped by Sinhalese. Kataragama Deviyo from Kartikeya, Upulvan from Vishnu and Ayyanayake from Aiyanar can be named as examples. Though these gods take the same place as their Hindu counterparts in mythology, some of their aspects are different compared to the original gods.
Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term "Protestant Buddhism" to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period. This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organising religious practices. They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organising Buddhists with new organisations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.
Christianity
There is a significant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule. Most Sinhalese Christians are Roman Catholic; a minority are Protestant. Their cultural centre is Negombo.
Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.
Genetics
Modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil influence. Gujarati and Punjabi lineages are also visible. In relation to the former, other studies also show the Sinhalese possess some genetic admixture from Southeast Asian populations, especially from Austroasiatic groups. Certain Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups and genetic markers of immunoglobulin among the Sinhalese, for example, show Southeast Asian genetic influences many of which are also found among certain Northeast Indian populations to whom the Sinhalese are genetically related.
Culture
Sinhalese culture is a unique one dating as far back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhala stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhalese instruments. More ancient rituals like (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and invoked the good powers of the Buddha and the gods in order to exorcise the demons.
Folklore and national mythology
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Bengal. The modern Sinhalese people were found genetically to be most closely related to the people of North-East India (Bengal). It is thought throughout Sri Lanka's history, since the founding of the Sinhalese in the 5th century BC that an influx of Indians from North India came to the island. This is further supported from Sinhala being part of the Indo-Aryan language group.
Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a long-sleeved shirt with a sarong. Clothing varies by region for women. Low country Sinhalese women wear a white Long sleeved jacket, and a tight wrap around skirt, which usually is embedded with a floral or pattern design. As for the up country Sinhalese, women wear a similar outfit, but with a puffed up shoulder jacket, and a tucked in frill that lines the top of the skirt (Reda and Hatte in Sinhala). Traditionally, high caste Kandyan women wear a Kandyan style sari, which is similar to the Maharashtrian sari, with the drape but with a frill lining the bottom half and sometimes puffed up sleeves. It’s also called an Osariya. The low country high caste women wear a South Indian style saree. Within the more populated areas, Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing — wearing suits while the women wear skirts and blouses. For formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. In many occasions and functions, even the saree plays an important role in women's clothing and has become the de facto clothing for female office workers especially in government sector. An example of its use is the uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Cuisine
Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning ‘milk rice’. In addition to , Sinhalese eat , chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais, rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.
The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a main curry of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and . The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.
Art and architecture
Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. It has many different and beautiful drawings.
Developed upon Indo-Aryan architectural skills in the late 6th century BCE Sinhalese people who lived upon greater kingdoms such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa have built so many architectural examples such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya - second tallest brick building in the ancient world after Great Pyramid of Giza, and Abayagiriya - third tallest brick building in the ancient world. And also with the ancient hydraulic technology which is also unique to Sinhalese people to build ancient tanks, systematic ponds with fountains moats and Irrigational reservoirs such as Parakrama Samudra, Kaudulla and Kandalama. Sigiriya which is considered by many as the 8th wonder of the world, it is a combination of natural and man made fortress, which consists so many architectural aspects.
Music
There are extensive folk poems relating to specific jobs of the ancient society. These poems were communal songs which had a rhythm that were sung when performing day-to-day tasks like harvesting and sowing.
Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as Sunil Shantha, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, Austin Munasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.
Film and theatre
Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalised the drama form with Maname in 1956. The same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhalese cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne, Asoka Handagama, and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhalese cinema. Sinhala cinema is often made colourful with the incorporation of songs and dance adding more uniqueness to the industry.
In the recent years high budget films like Aloko Udapadi, Aba (film) and Maharaja Gemunu based on Sinhalese epic historical stories gain huge success.
Performing arts
Performing arts of the Sinhalese people can be categorised into few groups:
Kandyan dance consist of 18 Wannam (dance routines) featuring behaviours of various animals such as elephant, eagle, cobra, monkey, peacock and rabbit, mainly performing in the annual Perahara pageant in Sri Dalada Maligawa Kandy.
Pahatharata dance have a significant dancing style which is used to cure illnesses and spiritual clarification. The main feature of these dances is dancers wear masks representing various gods and demons, and use elements such as fire and water to bless people.
Sabaragamuwa dances have also a significant dancing style, mainly to entertain people.
Folk music and dances differ according to the casts of Sinhalese people and also some times regionally—mainly popular among small children, especially girls. These arts are widely performed during the Sinhalese New Year period.
Martial arts
Angampora is the traditional martial art of the Sinhalese people. It combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise and meditation. Key techniques observed in Angampora are: Angam, which incorporates hand-to-hand fighting, and Illangam, which uses indigenous weapons such as Velayudaya, staves, knives and swords. Its most distinct feature is the use of pressure point attacks to inflict pain or permanently paralyse the opponent. Fighters usually make use of both striking and grappling techniques, and fight until the opponent is caught in a submission lock that they cannot escape. Usage of weapons is discretionary. Perimeters of fighting are defined in advance, and in some of the cases is a pit. Angampora became nearly extinct after the country came under British rule in 1815, but survived in a few families until the country regained independence.
Science and education
The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.
Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.
The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonisation maintained religion as the centre of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.
By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.
Medicine
Traditional Sinhalese villages in early days had at least one chief Medical personnel called Weda Mahaththaya (Doctor). These people practice their clinical activities by inheritance. Sinhalese Medicine resembles some of Ayurvedic practices in contrast for some treatments they use Buddhist Chantings (Pirith) in order to strengthen the effectiveness.
According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle, Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (437 BC – 367 BC) had lying-in-homes and Ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Mihintale Hospital is the oldest in the world.
See also
List of Sinhalese people
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
References
Citations
Sources
De Silva, K. M. History of Sri Lanka (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1981)
Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).
External links
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
Ethnologue-Sinhala, a language of Sri Lanka
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Who are the Sinhalese
Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean
Indo-Aryan peoples
Sinhalese diaspora
Sinhalese culture
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[
"Kheer (kheeri, payesh, payasam or phirni) is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent and Iranian plateau, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur wheat, millet, tapioca, vermicelli, or sweet corn. It is typically flavoured with desiccated coconut, cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, almonds, or other dry fruits and nuts, and recently pseudograins are also gaining popularity. It is typically served as a dessert.\n\nEtymology\nThe word kheer is derived from the Sanskrit word for milk, ksheer (क्षीर). Ksheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding.\n\nOrigin\n\nKheer was a part of the ancient Indian diet.\n\nAccording to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer or payas, as it is known in southern India, was a popular dish in ancient India. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar, a formula that has endured for over two thousand years. Payas was also a staple Hindu temple food, in particular, and it is served as Prasāda to devotees in temples.\n\nSee also\n Porridge\n Khira sagara\n\nReferences\n\nBangladeshi rice dishes\nIndian rice dishes\nNorth Indian cuisine\nBihari cuisine\nUttar Pradeshi cuisine\nIndian desserts\nNepalese cuisine\nBangladeshi desserts\nOdia cuisine\nRice pudding\nTelangana cuisine\nHyderabadi cuisine\nPunjabi cuisine\nKerala cuisine\nTamil cuisine\nIndian cuisine\nPakistani cuisine\nSri Lankan cuisine\nIndo-Caribbean cuisine",
"Poume d'oranges, also referred to as pome dorreng and pommedorry, is a characteristic gilded (coated) pork meatball dish from Medieval cuisine that was a part of the food culture during the Middle Ages. The dish was prepared to resemble the color of oranges, which was performed by using an egg yolk glaze. Poume d'oranges dish was often used for courtly English feasts and is listed in Medieval cooking manuscripts. The dish was denoted as pome dorreng on the coronation menu for Henry IV of England.\n\nPoume d'oranges is mentioned in Anglo-Norman manuscripts and other documents, which points to the influence of Arab cuisine on European cuisine. This influence is most likely due to the fact that Normans conquered Sicily in the 11th century, which was dominated by Arabs for several centuries. In southern Spain, the Moors ruled for centuries. A similar dish of Medieval origin is Teste de Turke.\n\nSee also\n List of meatball dishes\n List of pork dishes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Poume d’orange. The Medieval Kitchen. \nMedieval cuisine\nMeatballs\nPork dishes"
] |
[
"Sinhalese people",
"Cuisine",
"Which of the Sinhalese people cuisine was mentioned?",
"Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia.",
"Do they name the process or equipment in making the cuisine?",
"The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry.",
"What else was mentioned about this cuisine?",
"Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka.",
"Was there any other cuisine mentioned?",
"In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island,"
] |
C_cb0c7ab5bea842028a3f9178be3e2a19_0
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Where there names of the part of the world mentioned?
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Where there names of the part of the world mentioned where Sinhalese cuisine comes from?
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Sinhalese people
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Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. Due to its proximity to South India, Sinhalese cuisine shows some influence, yet is in many ways quite distinct. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning "Milk Rice." In addition to sambols, Sinhalese eat "Mallung"- chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour. Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a "main curry" of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "sambols". The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. CANNOTANSWER
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Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken.
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Sinhalese people () are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people (). They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and
other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
According to the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa, a 3rd–5th century treatise written in Pali by Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese descend from settlers who came to the island in 543 BCE from Sinhapura led by Prince Vijaya who mixed with the indigenous Yakka and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom.
Etymology
From the Sanskrit word Sinhala, meaning literally "of lions".
The Mahavamsa records the origin of the Sinhalese people and related historical events. It traces the historical origin of the Sinhalese people back to the first king who mentioned in the documentary history of Sri Lanka, Vijaya, who is the son of Sinhabahu (Sanskrit meaning 'Sinha' (lion) + 'bahu' (hands, feet), the ruler of Sinhapura. Some versions suggest Vijaya is the grandson of Sinhabahu. According to the Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu was the son of princess Suppadevi of Vanga, who copulated with a lion and gave birth to a daughter called Sinhasivali and to a son, Sinhabahu, whose hands and feet were like the paws of a lion and who had the strength of a lion. King Vijaya, the lineage of Sinhabahu, according to the Mahavamsa and other historical sources, arrived on the island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) and gave origin to the lion people, Sinhalese.
The story of the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka and the origin of the Sinhalese people is also depicted in the Ajanta caves, in a mural of cave number 17. According to Arisen Ahubudu, there were four major clans of "hela" in ancient Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Prince Vijaya, and that Sri Lanka was called as "Siv hela" (siv=four in the Sinhala language) and later it was changed into "Sinhala".
History
The early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century CE, and the later Culavamsa (the first segment probably penned in the 13th century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources that cover the histories of the powerful ancient Sinhalese kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which lasted for 1500 years. The Mahavamsa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well-developed agrarian society.
Pre Anuradhapura period
According to Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers left Suppāraka, landed on the island at a site believed by historians to be in the district of Puttalam, south of modern-day Mannar and founded the Kingdom of Thambapanni. It is recorded the Vijaya made his landing on the day of Buddha's Parinirvana. Vijaya claimed Tambapanni his capital and soon the whole island come under this name. Tambapanni was originally inhabited and governed by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu and their queen Kuveni. According to the Samyutta Commentary, Tambapanni was one hundred leagues in extent.
At the end of his reign, Vijaya, having trouble choosing a successor, sent a letter to the city of his ancestors, Sinhapura, in order to invite his brother Sumitta to take over the throne. However, Vijaya had died before the letter had reached its destination, so the elected minister of the people Upatissa, the Chief government minister or prime minister and leading chief among the Sinhalese became regent and acted as regent for a year. After his coronation, which was held in the Kingdom of Tambapanni, he left it, building another one, bearing his own name. While he was king, Upatissa established the new capital Upatissa, in which the kingdom was moved to from the Kingdom of Tambapanni. When Vijaya's letter arrived, Sumitta had already succeeded his father as king of his country, and so he sent his son Panduvasdeva to rule Upatissa Nuwara.
Upatissa Nuwara was seven or eight miles further north of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
It was named after the regent king Upatissa, who was the prime minister of Vijaya, and was founded in 505 BC after the death of Vijaya and the end of the Kingdom of Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura period
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city. Anuradhapura (Anurapura) was named after the minister who first established the village and after a grandfather of Pandukabhaya who lived there. The name was also derived from the city's establishment on the auspicious asterism called Anura. Anuradhapura was the capital of all the monarchs who ruled from the dynasty.
Rulers such as Dutthagamani, Valagamba, and Dhatusena are noted for defeating the South Indians and regaining control of the kingdom. Other rulers who are notable for military achievements include Gajabahu I, who launched an invasion against the invaders, and Sena II, who sent his armies to assist a Pandyan prince.
Polonnaruwa period
During the Middle Ages Sri Lanka was well known for its agricultural prosperity under king Parakramabahu in Polonnaruwa during which period the island was famous around the world as the rice mill of the east.
Transitional period
Later in the 13th century the country's administrative provinces were divided into independent kingdoms and chieftaincies: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Kingdom of Kotte, Jaffna Kingdom and the Kandyan kingdom. The invasion by the Hindu king Magha in the 13th century led to migrations by the Buddhists (mostly Sinhalese) to areas not under his control. This migration was followed by a period of conflict among the Sinhalese chiefs who tried to exert political supremacy. Parakramabahu VI, a Sinhalese king invaded the Jaffna Kingdom and conquered it, bringing the entire country back under the Sinhalese kingdom. Trade also increased during this period, as Sri Lanka began to trade cinnamon and a large number of Muslim traders were bought into the island.
In the 15th century a Kandyan Kingdom formed which divided the Sinhalese politically into low-country and up-country. In this period, the Sinhalese caste structure absorbed recent Dravidian Hindu immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups - the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.
Modern history
The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries.
Society
Demographics
Sri Lanka
Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the South, Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western parts of the country. This coincides with the largest Sinhalese populations areas in Sri Lanka. Cities with more than 90% Sinhalese population include Hambantota, Galle, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Diaspora
Sinhalese people have emigrated out to many countries for a variety of reasons. The larger diaspora communities are situated in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada among others. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with employment and/or education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.
The largest population centres of the Sinhalese diaspora are mainly situated in Europe, North America and Australia. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. The 2011 census recorded 86,412 Sri Lanka born in Australia. There are 73,849 Australians (0.4 of the population) who reported having Sinhalese ancestry in 2006. Sinhala was also reported to be the 29th-fastest-growing language in Australia (ranking above Somali but behind Hindi and Belarusian). Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,220 people identified themselves as of Sinhalese ancestry, out of 139,415 Sri Lankans. There are a small number of Sinhalese people in India, scattered around the country, but mainly living in and around the northern and southern regions. Sri Lankan New Zealanders comprised 3% of the Asian population of New Zealand in 2001. The numbers arriving continued to increase, and at the 2018 census there were over 16,000 Sri Lankans living in New Zealand among those 9,171 were Sinhalese.
In the U.S, the Sinhalese number about 12,000 people. The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population, followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Many Sinhalese have migrated to Italy since the 1970s. Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries. It is estimated that there are 30,000-33,000 Sinhalese in Italy. The major Sinhalese communities in Italy are located in Lombardia (In the districts Loreto and Lazzaretto), Milan, Lazio, Rome, Naples, and Southern Italy (Particularly Palermo, Messina and Catania). It should be noted however that many countries census list Sri Lankan which also includes Sri Lankan Tamils so the numbers of just Sinhalese are not as accurate when the census states Sri Lankan and not Sinhalese. Though Sinhalese people in particular and Sri Lankans in general have migrated to the UK over the centuries beginning from the colonial times, the number of Sinhalese people in the UK cannot be estimated accurately due to inadequacies of census in the UK. The UK government does not record statistics on the basis of language or ethnicity and all Sri Lankans are classified into one group as Asian British or Asian Other.
Language and literature
Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language within the broader group of Indo-European languages. The early form of the language was brought to Sri Lanka by the ancestors of the Sinhalese people from northern India who settled on the island in the 6th century BCE. Sinhala developed in a way different from the other Indo-Aryan languages because of the geographic separation from its Indo-Aryan sister languages. It was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, Telugu and Sanskrit. Many early texts in the language such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also adopted many loanwords of foreign origin, including from many Indian such as Tamil and European languages such as Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
Sandesha Kavyas written by Buddhist priests of Sri Lanka are regarded as some of the most sophisticated and versatile works of literature in the world. The Sinhala language was mainly inspired by Sanskrit and Pali, and many words of the Sinhala language derive from these languages. Today some English words too have come in as a result of the British occupation during colonial times, and the exposure to foreign cultures through television and foreign films. Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. In the Negombo area bilingual fishermen who generally identify themselves as Sinhalese also speak the Negombo Tamil dialect. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala.
Folk tales like Mahadana Muttha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Muttha tells the tale of a fool cum Pundit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.
In the modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.
Religion
The form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is known as Theravada (school of elders). The Pali chronicles (e.g., the Mahavansa) claim that the Sinhalese as an ethnic group are destined to preserve and protect Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the Sinhala speaking population in Sri Lanka were Buddhist. Observations of current religious beliefs and practices demonstrate that the Sinhalese, as a religious community, have a complex worldview as Buddhists. Due to the proximity and on some occasions similarity of certain doctrines, there are many areas where Buddhists and Hindus share religious views and practices. Sinhalese Buddhists have adopted religious elements from Hindu traditions in their religious practices. Some of these practices may relate to ancient indigenous beliefs and traditions on spirits (folk religion), and the worship of Hindu deities. Some of these figures are used in healing rituals and may be native to the island. Gods and goddess derived from Hindu deities are worshiped by Sinhalese. Kataragama Deviyo from Kartikeya, Upulvan from Vishnu and Ayyanayake from Aiyanar can be named as examples. Though these gods take the same place as their Hindu counterparts in mythology, some of their aspects are different compared to the original gods.
Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term "Protestant Buddhism" to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period. This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organising religious practices. They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organising Buddhists with new organisations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.
Christianity
There is a significant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule. Most Sinhalese Christians are Roman Catholic; a minority are Protestant. Their cultural centre is Negombo.
Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.
Genetics
Modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil influence. Gujarati and Punjabi lineages are also visible. In relation to the former, other studies also show the Sinhalese possess some genetic admixture from Southeast Asian populations, especially from Austroasiatic groups. Certain Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups and genetic markers of immunoglobulin among the Sinhalese, for example, show Southeast Asian genetic influences many of which are also found among certain Northeast Indian populations to whom the Sinhalese are genetically related.
Culture
Sinhalese culture is a unique one dating as far back as 2600 years and has been nourished by Theravada Buddhism. Its main domains are sculpture, fine arts, literature, dancing, poetry and a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Ancient Sinhala stone sculpture and inscriptions are known worldwide and is a main foreign attraction in modern tourism. Sigirirya is famous for its frescoes. Folk poems were sung by workers to accompany their work and narrate the story of their lives. Ideally these poems consisted of four lines and, in the composition of these poems, special attention had been paid to the rhyming patterns. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhalese instruments. More ancient rituals like (devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today and often praised and invoked the good powers of the Buddha and the gods in order to exorcise the demons.
Folklore and national mythology
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijaya and his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in Bengal. The modern Sinhalese people were found genetically to be most closely related to the people of North-East India (Bengal). It is thought throughout Sri Lanka's history, since the founding of the Sinhalese in the 5th century BC that an influx of Indians from North India came to the island. This is further supported from Sinhala being part of the Indo-Aryan language group.
Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a long-sleeved shirt with a sarong. Clothing varies by region for women. Low country Sinhalese women wear a white Long sleeved jacket, and a tight wrap around skirt, which usually is embedded with a floral or pattern design. As for the up country Sinhalese, women wear a similar outfit, but with a puffed up shoulder jacket, and a tucked in frill that lines the top of the skirt (Reda and Hatte in Sinhala). Traditionally, high caste Kandyan women wear a Kandyan style sari, which is similar to the Maharashtrian sari, with the drape but with a frill lining the bottom half and sometimes puffed up sleeves. It’s also called an Osariya. The low country high caste women wear a South Indian style saree. Within the more populated areas, Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing — wearing suits while the women wear skirts and blouses. For formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. In many occasions and functions, even the saree plays an important role in women's clothing and has become the de facto clothing for female office workers especially in government sector. An example of its use is the uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Cuisine
Sinhalese cuisine is one of the most complex cuisines of South Asia. As a major trade hub, it draws influence from colonial powers that were involved in Sri Lanka and by foreign traders. Rice, which is consumed daily, can be found at any occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. Some of the Sri Lankan dishes have striking resemblance to Kerala cuisine, which could be due to the similar geographic and agricultural features with Kerala. A well-known rice dish with Sinhalese is Kiribath, meaning ‘milk rice’. In addition to , Sinhalese eat , chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavour.
Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais, rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.
The island nation's cuisine mainly consists of boiled or steamed rice served with curry. This usually consists of a main curry of fish or chicken, as well as several other curries made with vegetables, lentils and even fruit curries. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and . The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of ground coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldive fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.
Art and architecture
Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. It has many different and beautiful drawings.
Developed upon Indo-Aryan architectural skills in the late 6th century BCE Sinhalese people who lived upon greater kingdoms such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa have built so many architectural examples such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya - second tallest brick building in the ancient world after Great Pyramid of Giza, and Abayagiriya - third tallest brick building in the ancient world. And also with the ancient hydraulic technology which is also unique to Sinhalese people to build ancient tanks, systematic ponds with fountains moats and Irrigational reservoirs such as Parakrama Samudra, Kaudulla and Kandalama. Sigiriya which is considered by many as the 8th wonder of the world, it is a combination of natural and man made fortress, which consists so many architectural aspects.
Music
There are extensive folk poems relating to specific jobs of the ancient society. These poems were communal songs which had a rhythm that were sung when performing day-to-day tasks like harvesting and sowing.
Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as Sunil Shantha, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, Austin Munasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.
Film and theatre
Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalised the drama form with Maname in 1956. The same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhalese cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne, Asoka Handagama, and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhalese cinema. Sinhala cinema is often made colourful with the incorporation of songs and dance adding more uniqueness to the industry.
In the recent years high budget films like Aloko Udapadi, Aba (film) and Maharaja Gemunu based on Sinhalese epic historical stories gain huge success.
Performing arts
Performing arts of the Sinhalese people can be categorised into few groups:
Kandyan dance consist of 18 Wannam (dance routines) featuring behaviours of various animals such as elephant, eagle, cobra, monkey, peacock and rabbit, mainly performing in the annual Perahara pageant in Sri Dalada Maligawa Kandy.
Pahatharata dance have a significant dancing style which is used to cure illnesses and spiritual clarification. The main feature of these dances is dancers wear masks representing various gods and demons, and use elements such as fire and water to bless people.
Sabaragamuwa dances have also a significant dancing style, mainly to entertain people.
Folk music and dances differ according to the casts of Sinhalese people and also some times regionally—mainly popular among small children, especially girls. These arts are widely performed during the Sinhalese New Year period.
Martial arts
Angampora is the traditional martial art of the Sinhalese people. It combines combat techniques, self-defence, sport, exercise and meditation. Key techniques observed in Angampora are: Angam, which incorporates hand-to-hand fighting, and Illangam, which uses indigenous weapons such as Velayudaya, staves, knives and swords. Its most distinct feature is the use of pressure point attacks to inflict pain or permanently paralyse the opponent. Fighters usually make use of both striking and grappling techniques, and fight until the opponent is caught in a submission lock that they cannot escape. Usage of weapons is discretionary. Perimeters of fighting are defined in advance, and in some of the cases is a pit. Angampora became nearly extinct after the country came under British rule in 1815, but survived in a few families until the country regained independence.
Science and education
The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.
Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.
The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonisation maintained religion as the centre of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.
By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.
Medicine
Traditional Sinhalese villages in early days had at least one chief Medical personnel called Weda Mahaththaya (Doctor). These people practice their clinical activities by inheritance. Sinhalese Medicine resembles some of Ayurvedic practices in contrast for some treatments they use Buddhist Chantings (Pirith) in order to strengthen the effectiveness.
According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle, Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (437 BC – 367 BC) had lying-in-homes and Ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Mihintale Hospital is the oldest in the world.
See also
List of Sinhalese people
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
References
Citations
Sources
De Silva, K. M. History of Sri Lanka (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1981)
Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).
External links
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
Ethnologue-Sinhala, a language of Sri Lanka
CIA Factbook-Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Who are the Sinhalese
Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka
Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean
Indo-Aryan peoples
Sinhalese diaspora
Sinhalese culture
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"The Schauplatzgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Äussere Neustadt which was built during the third expansion from 1344 to 1346. It runs from Bundesplatz in front of the Bundeshaus to Bubenbergplatz and is part of the UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site that encompasses the Old City.\n\nHistory\nThe street is first mentioned in 1347 as Schoulanzgasse, after a local noble family. After the Schoulant family died out, the street was known by a number of different names. The current name is first mentioned in 1732.\n\nReferences\n\nStreets in Bern\nOld City (Bern)",
"Grinlandia () is the fantasy world where most of the novels and short stories of Alexander Grin take place. The name of the country is never mentioned by the author himself, and the name Grinlandia was suggested in 1934 by literary critic Korneliy Zelinsky and adopted by Grin's fans since then.\n\nThe Alexander Grin museum in Theodosia contains the reconstructed map of the land.\n\nIt is a land by the ocean, apparently far from Europe (as some characters speak about \"sailing to Europe\") but populated by people with vaguely Western European names and appearance.\n\nThe language spoken in Grinlandia is also never identified (though the novels themselves are written in Russian). There are several cities (Liss, Zurbagan, San Riole, etc.) mentioned in several of the novels, but none of them are identified as a capital.\n\nReferences\n\nFictional countries"
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"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition"
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What album did they release in1976?
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What album did Weather Report release in 1976?
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Weather Report
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1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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Black Market
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Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
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|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"\"What I Did for Love\" is a song from the musical A Chorus Line (music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban). It was quickly recognized for its show-business potential outside Broadway and was picked up by popular singers to include in their performances in their club and television appearances. Both female and male singers have made it an inclusion in their recorded albums to great effect. The Daily Telegraph described it as a \"big anthem\".\n\nSynopsis within A Chorus Line\nIn the penultimate scene of the production, one of the dancers, Paul San Marco, has suffered a career-ending injury. The remaining dancers, gathered together onstage, are asked what they would do if they were told they could no longer dance. Diana Morales, in reply, sings this anthem, which considers loss philosophically, with an undefeated optimism; all the other dancers concur. Whatever happens, they will be free of regret. What they did in their careers, they did for love, and their talent, no matter how great, was only theirs \"to borrow,\" was to be only temporary and would someday be gone. However, the love of performing is never gone, and they are all pointed toward tomorrow.\n\nNotable versions\nBeverly Bremers' version, was released as a single in 1975.\nEydie Gormé - a single release in 1976 (US AC #23).\nBing Crosby - for his album Beautiful Memories (1977)\nEngelbert Humperdinck - for his album Miracles (1977).\nGrace Jones - for her debut album Portfolio (1977)\nJack Jones - in his 1975 album What I Did for Love (US AC #25, Canada AC #23).\nJohnny Mathis - Feelings (1975)\nBill Hayes - for his album From Me To You With Love (1976)\nMarcia Hines - see below\nPeggy Lee - for her album Peggy (1977)\nPetula Clark - a single release in 1975.\nShirley Bassey - Love, Life and Feelings (1976)\nRobert Goulet - in his album You're Something Special (1978).\nElaine Paige - included in her album Stages (1983)\nHoward Keel - for his album Just for You (1988).\nJosh Groban - for his album Stages (2015)\nMe First and the Gimme Gimmes - from their album Are A Drag (1999)\n\nMarcia Hines' version\n\nMarcia Hines recorded and released a version as the lead single from her third studio album, Ladies and Gentlemen (1977). The song peaked at number 6 on the Kent Music Report, becoming Hines' third top 10 single in Australia.\n\nAt the 1978 Australian Record Awards, the song won Hines Female Vocalist of the Year.\n\nTrack listing\n 7\" Single (MS-507)\nSide A \"What I Did for Love\" - 3:15\nSide B \"A Love Story\" (Robie Porter) - 3:31\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nSongs from A Chorus Line\n1975 songs\n1975 singles\n1977 singles\nMarcia Hines songs\nBeverly Bremers songs\nColumbia Records singles\nGrace Jones songs\nSongs written by Marvin Hamlisch",
"Anuprastha (sometimes transliterated Annuprastha) is a Nepali rock band. The name Anuprastha (अनुप्रस्थ) is derived from Sanskrit: Anu (अनु) means \"music\" and Prastha (प्रस्थ) \"first\". They generally focus their music on the rock genre but combine it with Nepali folk tunes.\n\nThe band was formed in 2004 when the members were in college. It consists of Neran Shahi - Vocal & Guitar; Jimi Joshi- Bass; Govin Sunuwar - Guitar; Bibek Tamang - Drums; and Sundar Maharjan - Madal/percussion.\n\nAfter struggling for several years, the band successfully gained national attention when they won the reality show Sprite Band Challenge 1st edition in 2008, which was aired on Nepal's national TV channel. There were three strong finalists — Anuprastha, Alt F4 and Bequeath — but Anuprastha took the crown along with one lakh rupees and a ticket to shoot a music video. They released that first music video, \"Din\", in July 2009 in two versions. They launched their debut album Anuprastha in 2010. They released the single \"Ujyaalo\" in 2016.\n\nIn 2017, they launched their second album, What to Do Kathmandu. They released the single \"Aduitiya\" from the album. They did not release the album earlier due to problems of sound quality, load-shedding, etc., and followed its release with a tour of major cities in Nepal,The band visited different major cities like Narayanghat, Butwal, Bhairahawa, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Itahari, Dharan and Damak. and then Dubai and Abu Dhabi with other artists.\n\nIn 2019, they released the music video of their previously Dashain Song marking the biggest festival of Nepal. They are working in their new album (third album) \"Nepal Sorga vanda thulo cha\".\n\nIn 2021,they released the new music video of remade Song Samjhera Malai which was included in First Album(Anuprastha).\n\nSingles \n Dashain Aayo\n\nAlbums\n Anuprastha (2010) \n What to Do Kathmandu? (2017)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAnuprastha on Facebook\n Anuprastha on Youtube\n\nNepalese musical groups\nNepalese rock music groups\n2004 establishments in Nepal"
] |
[
"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition",
"What album did they release in1976?",
"Black Market"
] |
C_19806bc666674bc0b2426e3e0f256118_1
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What was the music style on the album?
| 2 |
What was the music style on Weather Report's album entitled Black Market?
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Weather Report
|
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal.
|
Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
|
|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"The discography of contemporary Christian musician from Brandon Heath consist of seven studio albums, three extended plays (EPs), two independent albums (IAs), nine music videos and eighteen singles. After making a demo CD, Heath gained a fame in the Christian music industry when he independently released his debut album titled Early Stuff in 2004. On the same year he released his second album Soldier which was produced by Chris Davis. In 2005 another independent album was releases titled Don't Get Comfortable The EP.\n\nIn 2006 he released his first studio album titled Don't Get Comfortable following his three singles \"Our God Reigns\" which placed at No. 13 on US Christian, \"I'm Not Who I Was\" which became top No. 1 in three weeks and \"Don't Get Comfortable\" placed at No. 11 in US Christian Hit Billboard.\n\nHeath's second studio album \"What If We\" released in 2008 and reached the top three in the Top US Christian Album and top seventy three in Billboard 200. The lead single \"Give Me Your Eyes\" became his second highest-peaking single on the US Christian which is reached in No. 1. In 2009 he released a second single on the same album titled \"Wait and See\" reached No. 4 in US and Canada. It followed the new single \"Follow You\" featuring Leeland reached No. 7. In 2010 he released his third and final single from the album What If We titled \"Love Never Fails\" peaking a position at No. 18 in US Christian Songs and Hot Canadian Contemporary Song.\n\nHeath third studio album \"Leaving Eden\" was released on January 18, 2011. The first single \"Your Love\" was released in 2010 reached at No. 1 in six weeks on the US Christian which became his third highest-peaking single after the released of his \"Give Me Your Eyes\" and \"I'm Not Who I Was\". The second single \"Leaving Eden\" released on June 19, 2011.\n\nHeath's fourth studio album, Blue Mountain, was released on October 9, 2012. It follows the first single from the album \"Jesus in Disguise\" together with the lyrics video on YouTube then later the music video. The single reached at No. 9 on Hot Christian Songs and No. 5 on the Billboard Christian songs chart.\n\nAlbums\n\nIndependent albums\n2003: Early Stuff\n2004: Soldier\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilation albums\nNo Brandon Heath standard compilation albums have yet been released, only one box set as listed in the Box set section.\n\nBox sets\n\nGuest appearances \n\n{| class=\"wikitable\"\n|-\n! style=\"width:3em;\"| Year\n! style=\"width:12em;\"| Artist\n! style=\"width:12em;\"| Album\n! style=\"width:20em;\"| Song(s)\n|-\n| 2008\n| Various\n| Billy: The Early Years\n| style=\"text-align:center;\"| \n\"Heavenly Day\"\n|-\n| 2009\n| Various\n| Glory Revealed II\n| style=\"text-align:center;\"|\n\"What We Proclaim\" (with Aaron Shust & Mike Donehey)\n|-\n| 2009\n| Leeland\n| Love Is on the Move\n| style=\"text-align:center;\"| \n\"Follow You\"\n|-\n| 2010\n| Jars of Clay\n| The Shelter\n| style=\"text-align:center;\"| \n\"Small Rebellions\"\n\"Shelter\" (with Audrey Assad & tobyMac)\n|-\n| 2011\n| Various\n| Music Inspired by The Story\n| style=\"text-align:center;\"|\n\"Bend\" (Joseph)\n|-\n| 2013\n| Various\n| Jesus, Firm Foundation: Hymns of Worshp\n| style=\"text-align;center;\"|\n\"It Is Well (Oh My Soul)\"\n|-\n| 2014\n| Lindsay McCaul\n| One More Step| style=\"text-align;center;\"|\n\"With the Brokenhearted\"\n|}\n\nExtended plays\n\nSingles\n\nVideos\n\nMusic videos\n\nLyric videos\n\n Other appearances \n\n Compilation albums (various artists) \n\nSoundtracks (various artists) \n2008: Billy: The Early Years soundtrack: \"Heavenly Day\"\n2011: Courageous soundtrack: \"Your Love\"\n2012: October Baby'' soundtrack: \"Now More Than Ever\"\n\nReferences \n\nHeath, Brandon",
"Zac Brown Band is an American country music group made up of Coy Bowles, Zac Brown, Clay Cook, Jimmy De Martini, Chris Fryar, Daniel de los Reyes, Matt Mangano, and John Driskell Hopkins. They have released seven studio albums, two extended plays, and two live albums. They have released 26 singles to country radio and two to rock radio. Fourteen of those singles reached number one on either the US Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay chart, while one reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.\n\nIn 2008, they released their debut single, \"Chicken Fried\". It became their first number-one single on the country singles charts and also became a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Their major label debut album, The Foundation was released November 18, 2008. It featured four additional singles, including the Number Ones \"Toes\", \"Highway 20 Ride\", and \"Free\".\n\nIn 2010, a duet with Alan Jackson was released as the lead-off single to their second album, You Get What You Give. The album's first four singles, \"As She's Walking Away\", \"Colder Weather\", \"Knee Deep\", and \"Keep Me in Mind\" all became Number One hits.\n\nTheir third album, Uncaged, was released on July 10, 2012. It features the singles \"The Wind\", \"Goodbye in Her Eyes\", \"Jump Right In\", and \"Sweet Annie\".\n\nThe band's second extended play, The Grohl Sessions, Vol. 1, was released on December 10, 2013 and features the single \"All Alright\", which was released on April 28, 2014.\n\nThe band's fourth studio album, Jekyll + Hyde, was released on April 28, 2015. It features the singles \"Homegrown\", \"Heavy Is the Head\", Loving You Easy\", \"Junkyard\", \"Beautiful Drug\", and \"Castaway\". \"Heavy Is the Head\" and \"Junkyard\" were both released as rock singles, with \"Heavy Is the Head\" becoming the band's first number-one single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.\n\nTheir fifth album, Welcome Home, was released on May 12, 2017, and featured the singles \"My Old Man\" and \"Roots\". Welcome Home was the band's first studio album not to produce a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts.\n\nTheir sixth album, The Owl, was released on September 20, 2019. The album produced two singles: \"Someone I Used to Know\" and \"Leaving Love Behind\". The Owl was the first studio album from the band that did not produce a top 20 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts.\n\nOn October 15, 2021, the band released The Comeback, their seventh studio album. The Comeback was the band's first album since The Foundation to not reach number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The album has produced the singles \"Same Boat\" and \"Out in the Middle\". \"Same Boat\" was the band's first single to reach number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart since \"Beautiful Drug\" in 2016.\n\nStudio albums\n\n2000s albums\n\n2010s and 2020s albums\n{| class=\"wikitable plainrowheaders\" style=\"text-align:center;\"\n|-\n! scope=\"col\" rowspan=\"2\" style=\"width:14em;\"| Title\n! scope=\"col\" rowspan=\"2\" style=\"width:24em;\"| Album details\n! scope=\"col\" colspan=\"5\"| Peak chart positions\n! scope=\"col\" rowspan=\"2\" style=\"width:13em;\"| Sales\n! scope=\"col\" rowspan=\"2\" style=\"width:11em;\"| Certifications(sales threshold)\n|-\n! scope=\"col\" style=\"width:4.5em;font-size:85%;\"| US\n! scope=\"col\" style=\"width:4.5em;font-size:85%;\"| US Country\n! scope=\"col\" style=\"width:4.5em;font-size:85%;\"| AUS<ref name=\"AUS\">Peaks in Australia:\n All except noted: \n ''Greatest Hits So Far...: </ref>\n! scope=\"col\" style=\"width:4.5em;font-size:85%;\"| CAN\n! scope=\"col\" style=\"width:4.5em;font-size:85%;\"| UK Country\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| You Get What You Give\n|\n Release date: September 21, 2010\n Label: Atlantic/Southern Ground/Bigger Picture\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 1 || 1 || — || 12 || —\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: 1,900,000\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: 3x Platinum\n CAN: Gold\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| Uncaged\n|\n Release date: July 10, 2012\n Label: Atlantic/Southern Ground/RPM\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 1 || 1 || 38 || 1 || 4\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: 1,200,000\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: Platinum\n CAN: Gold\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| Jekyll + Hyde\n|\n Release date: April 28, 2015\n Label: John Varvatos Records/Big Machine Label Group/Republic Records\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 1 || 1 || 6 || 1 || 2\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: 672,400\n CAN: 15,000\n|\n US: Platinum\n CAN: Gold\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| Welcome Home\n|\n Release date: May 12, 2017\n Label: Elektra Records\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 2 || 1 || 8 || 2 || —\n| style=\"text-align:left;\"|\n US: 308,600\n|\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| The Owl\n|\n Release date: September 20, 2019\n Label: Wheelhouse, BMG\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 2 || 1 || 29 || 39 || —\n|\n US: 137,100\n|\n|-\n! scope=\"row\"| The Comeback\n|\n Release date: October 15, 2021\n Label: Southern Ground\n Formats: CD, music download\n| 27\n| 3\n| 42\n| 64\n| —\n|\n|\n|-\n| colspan=\"10\" style=\"font-size:85%\"| \"—\" denotes releases that did not chart.\n|}\n\n Live albums \n\n Compilation albums \n\n Extended plays \n\n Singles \n\n 2000s singles \n\n 2010s singles \n\n 2020s singles Notes'''\n\nFeatured singles\n\nOther charted songs\n\nVideography\n\nMusic videos\n\nGuest appearances\n\nAlbum appearances\n\nSee also\nSir Rosevelt#Discography\nZac Brown#Discography\n\nReferences\n\nCountry music discographies\nDiscographies of American artists\nDiscography"
] |
[
"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition",
"What album did they release in1976?",
"Black Market",
"What was the music style on the album?",
"melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal."
] |
C_19806bc666674bc0b2426e3e0f256118_1
|
did the band stay together during this time?
| 3 |
Did the band Weather Report stay together in 1976?
|
Weather Report
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1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks.
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Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
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|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
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"\"Stay Together\" is a non-album single by Suede, released on 14 February 1994 on Nude Records. It is the last single released while guitarist Bernard Butler was in the band, though subsequent singles from Dog Man Star feature his music. It is tied with \"Trash\" as the highest-charting single the band has released, reaching 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also charted in Ireland, peaking at No. 18. The single was released in the US on 26 April as a six-song EP, and was the first release by the band as the London Suede. The State-side name change was the result of a successful lawsuit brought by Suzanne deBronkart, who had already been performing and recording in the US under the name Suede.\n\nBackground\nFollowing the death of Bernard Butler's father, relations within Suede started to deteriorate. Butler kept to himself on the following tour of the US, while the other band members indulged in some of the worst excesses of their career. Butler travelled to concerts by himself or on The Cranberries tour bus, rather than travel with his bandmates. This influence became prevalent as Butler later stated, \"Whatever I did on Stay Together was the A to Z of the emotions I was experiencing... defiance, loss, a final sigh.\" What was intended as a couple of days' recording stretched out to two weeks. It was later revealed that the song had almost 50 tracks of recorded material on it. Two versions of the song were released, the full length 8:35 version and a shorter 4:21 radio edit.\n\nAccording to an entry in Simon Gilbert's diary in the biography Love and Poison, Butler objected to the lyrics in \"Stay Together\". The entry read: \"Lyrics not to be printed on cover of single in case his mother reads it. '16 tears', obviously paedophilic!.\" The lyrics for \"The Living Dead\" were also criticised by Butler. At the time he said: \"I've written this really beautiful piece of music and it's a squalid song about junkies.\"\n\nRelease and promotion\nSuede first premiered the song at a four-city French tour in late 1993. There were many press interviews at the time, with Brett Anderson appearing on the front cover of Vox and Sky magazines. While in Scotland, The List and The Scotsman wrote lengthy features and interviews with the band to promote the band's Edinburgh gig at the Queen's Hall. Suede secured two performances on Top of the Pops. To promote the single the band embarked on a three-date mini-tour of Worthing, Blackpool and Edinburgh.\n\n\"Stay Together\" was released in the UK on 14 February 1994. The single was available in four formats: 7-inch vinyl and cassette, with the short version of \"Stay Together\" and B-side \"The Living Dead\"; 12-inch single with the full version of \"Stay Together\" and both B-sides; and CD single featuring both versions and both B-sides.\n\nThe 12-inch single was issued in a limited edition (10,000) gatefold sleeve featuring a large band photo inside. The April issue of Select gave away a free cassette which included a piano version of \"The Living Dead\", recorded at Butler's flat on a 4-track. The single was released on Columbia Records ten weeks later in the US as a six-song EP 26 April 1994. The EP included the B-sides \"Dolly\" and \"High Rising\", released as part of previous UK single \"So Young\". The single charted at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. This was the band's highest-charting single at the time, which was later matched by 1996 single \"Trash\". Although Anderson is very keen to downplay the success of the single, and considers the song as a rare moment in the band's career where \"hype dictated its success.\" The single did not chart in the US, although it is considered to be the closest the band came to having a hit-single there.\n\nThe promotional video for the song was filmed at Riverside Studios in London and directed by Jon Klein. The band has since suggested that video features too much empty symbolism, feeling that scenes of Butler hanging upside down and Anderson gagged are particularly misplaced considering the song's tone. During the video there are short clips of two jumpers about to fall from the roof of a tall building. There are also images of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center in New York.\n\nReception and legacy\nThe single received largely positive response upon release. NME and Melody Maker awarded it Single of the Week. The former wrote: \"Luxuriating in the ambitious, dramatic, exhausting spell of this makes everything else sound like so much ephemera. Like most great things it leaves you utterly silent.\" The latter's Caitlin Moran called it \"wild and elegant, soft then strong, and very, very long [...] It has the scope of 'High Rising' with the pop attack of 'So Young'.\" Tom Doyle awarded the song \"Best New Single\" in the 16 February issue of Smash Hits, calling it \"a rock ballad of epic proportions concerning itself with the wonders of love in the grim modern world of skyscrapers and motorway paths.\" He called it their \"best single yet\" and predicted it would be the band's first No. 1 single. Martin Aston of Music Week also rated its commercial prospects, writing: \"An eight-minute magnum opus, Stay Together is a medium-tempo swaggerer that builds to a frenetic climax, with even a Brett Andersen 'rap' in the middle: a perfect, alternative anthem for disaffected Valentine's Day lovers. A strong candidate for their first number one hit.\" Writing for The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan spoke favourably of Suede's new musical direction, saying that \"Suede prematurely reach the eight-minute song stage of their career. But what could have been a pretentious misjudgement turns out to be one of their brightest moves.\"\n\nIn 2012, \"Stay Together\" was placed at No. 3 on NME's 100 Best Tracks of the Nineties. In 2015 NME also included the single in their list of 50 must-have EPs, where \"Stay Together\" was ranked at No. 25.\n\nIn the decade after its release, the band largely disowned the song. Anderson considers the single and accompanying video the worst the band has released, stating, \"I don't think the fuss about Stay Together was justified, I think that was just hype. [...] I just find it a bit bombastic. I don't think the lyrics are that good either. It's okay.\" However publicist Jane Savidge suggests that Anderson \"can't believe he wrote it about that girl, Anick\" (Brett's girlfriend at the time), which is why he has no feelings for it. However, the song has since been played live on occasion in more recent years. In September 1994, just as fellow Britpop band Oasis were gaining popularity, their lead guitarist Noel Gallagher made a comment on the song's lyrics, saying: \"There's not enough humour in music. Look at Suede with all this 'together in the nuclear sky' bollocks. I'm sorry, but the Cold War is over, Brett. Let’s talk about beer and fags and lasagne instead. Even Bowie had a sense of humour. He wrote the fuckin' Laughing Gnome, didn't he?\"\n\nLive performances\nThis was the last song ever played at a live gig with Butler, at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, on 12 February 1994, although he and Anderson performed the B-sides, \"The Living Dead\" and \"My Dark Star\" on MTV's Most Wanted the following month. After its release, \"Stay Together\" was never performed live and has only in recent years been performed on special occasions. The band would omit it from their set list for almost ten years when they finally played it at the five-night ICA residency in September 2003. Playing it during the encore on the final night, the band played the truncated 7-inch edit format. It next featured at the three-night Brixton Academy \"Classic Albums\" residency in May 2011 where they performed the song on the second night. Suede played the full eight-minute version of \"Stay Together\" as the final encore of their Teenage Cancer Trust gig at the Royal Albert Hall, Sunday 30 March 2014, backed by a string and brass ensemble.\n\nTrack listings\nAll songs were written by Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler.\n\n7-inch vinyl, cassette\n\"Stay Together\" (edit)\n\"The Living Dead\"\n\n12-inch vinyl\n\"Stay Together\"\n\"The Living Dead\"\n\"My Dark Star\"\n\nCD\n\"Stay Together\" (edit) (3:55)\n\"The Living Dead\" (2:48)\n\"My Dark Star\" (4:06)\n\"Stay Together\" (8:28)\n\nEP (US release as the London Suede)\n\"Stay Together\" (edit)\n\"The Living Dead\"\n\"My Dark Star\"\n\"Dolly\" (B-side \"So Young\")\n\"High Rising\" (B-side \"So Young\")\n\"Stay Together\"\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\n1994 singles\n1994 songs\nSong recordings produced by Ed Buller\nSongs about suicide\nSongs written by Bernard Butler\nSongs written by Brett Anderson\nSuede (band) songs",
"B'z is the debut studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z. It was released on September 21, 1988, and reached #47 on the Japanese charts. The album sold 3,790 copies in its first week and eventually sold 338,360 in total.\n\nThe band did not tour in support of the album, because its nine songs were all the material they had at the time, and they felt it would not be a proper show with just 40 minutes of material. Unlike the hard-rocking music that most associate with B'z, the album was very much a product of its times, with synthesizers and samplers sharing equal time with Tak's guitar.\n\nOne single was released from the album: \"Dakara Sono Te Wo Hanashite\".\n\nTrack listing \nAll songs written by Kohshi Inaba & Takahiro Matsumoto.\n 3:49\nHalf Tone Lady 3:36\nHeart Mo Nureru Number ~Stay Tonight~ (ハートも濡れるナンバー ～stay tonight～) 4:39\nYuube no Crying (This Is My Truth) (ゆうべの Crying ～This is my truth～) 5:30\nNothing To Change 4:37\nKodoku ni Dance in Vain (孤独に Dance in vain) 4:54\nIt's Not a Dream 3:56\nKimi o Dakitai (君を今抱きたい) 4:13\nFake Lips 4:39\n\nSingle \n\n is the only single from the album and the debut single by the band, released on September 21, 1988.\n\nThe song has been re-recorded twice, first in English for their Bad Communication EP, then as a guitar-driven hard rock version for 2000's B'z The \"Mixture\". This second version is the one the band now plays live. However, during their 2008 \"Pleasure--Glory Days\" tour, the original synth-driven version made a rare return, with Tak Matsumoto playing a Yamaha MG-M guitar, something the guitarist hasn't done for years.\n\nTrack listing\n\nHeart Mo Nureru Number ~Stay Tonight~ (ハートも濡れるナンバー ～Stay Tonight～)\n\nReferences \n\n1988 debut albums\nB'z albums\nJapanese-language albums"
] |
[
"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition",
"What album did they release in1976?",
"Black Market",
"What was the music style on the album?",
"melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal.",
"did the band stay together during this time?",
"Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks."
] |
C_19806bc666674bc0b2426e3e0f256118_1
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Who was his replacement?
| 4 |
Who was Johnson's replacement after he departed from the band Weather Report?
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Weather Report
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1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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His replacement was Jaco Pastorius,
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Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
|
|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"The 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka was a meeting of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, with the membership determined by the results of the 2004 parliamentary election held on 2 April 2004. The parliament met for the first time on 22 April 2004 and was dissolved on 9 February 2010.\n\nElection\n\nThe 13th parliamentary election was held on 2 April 2004. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), a newly formed opposition alliance, became the largest group in Parliament by winning 105 of the 225 seats. The incumbent United National Front (UNF) won 82 seats. The minority Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won 22 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining 16 seats.\n\nResults\n\nThe new parliament was sworn in on 22 April 2004. W. J. M. Lokubandara, the opposition's candidate, was elected Speaker after three dramatic rounds of voting in Parliament. The parliament reconvened on 18 May 2004 to elect unopposed Gitanjana Gunawardena as Deputy Speaker and M. Satchithanandan as the Deputy Chairman of Committees.\n\nGovernment\n\nThe UPFA was able to form a minority government with the support of the sole Eelam People's Democratic Party MP.\n\nOn 6 April 2004, President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa, the leader of the UPFA, as the new Prime Minister. The rest of the government, comprising 30 Ministers and 31 Deputy Ministers, were sworn in on 10 April 2004. President Kumaratunga retained control of the important ministries of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order, Highways, Education and Buddha Sasana.\n\nAfter that a number of defections and counter-defections from the opposition increased the number of government MPs to 129, most of whom were rewarded with ministerial posts. This allowed the UPFA form a stable government for six years.\n\nFollowing the expiration of the second term of President Kumaratunge, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse defeated the leader of the United National Party and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe in the 2005 Presidential election. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.\n\nBy January 2007 the government had grown to 104 (52 Ministers + 33 Non-Cabinet Ministers + 19 Deputy Ministers). Only a handful of UPFA MPs didn't have a ministerial position. The government was labelled the \"Jumbo Cabinet\" due to the high number of ministers. It was the largest government in Sri Lanka's history and proportionally one of the largest in the world. By the end of the 13th Parliament the number of ministers had grown further to 109.\n\nChanges in party/alliance affiliations\nThe 13th parliament saw a number of defections and counter-defections:\n\n18 May 2004: One Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MP (Hussain Ahamed Bhaila) joins the UPFA.\n9 August 2004: Two SLMC MPs (M. N. Abdul Majeed, Rishad Bathiudeen) join UPFA.\n3 September 2004: Ceylon Workers' Congress (eight MPs) joins UPFA, giving it a majority in parliament.\n16 June 2005: Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) (39 MPs) quits UPFA.\n14 December 2005: One CWC MP (Vadivel Suresh) joins UPFA.\n25 January 2006: Two United National Party MPs (Keheliya Rambukwella, Mahinda Samarasinghe) join UPFA.\n28 January 2007: 18 UNP MPs (Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, Rohitha Bogollagama, P. Dayaratna, R. M. Dharmadasa Banda, Navin Dissanayake, Edward Gunaserkara, Bandula Gunawardane, Karu Jayasuriya, Gamini Lokuge, M. H. Mohamed, Milinda Moragoda, M. Mohamed Musthaffa, Hemakumara Nanayakkara, Neomal Perera, G. L. Peiris, Rajitha Senaratne, C. A. Suriyaarachchi, Mano Wijeyeratne, Mahinda Wijesekara) and 6 SLMC MPs join UPFA.\n30 January 2007: Jathika Hela Urumaya (eight MPs) joins UPFA.\n12 December 2007: Four SLMC MPs (Hasen Ali, Cassim Faizal, Rauff Hakeem, Basheer Segu Dawood) quit the UPFA.\n28 December 2008: 12 MPs, who had left the JVP in May 2008 to form the National Freedom Front, join the UPFA.\n\nDeaths and resignations\nThe 13th parliament saw numerous deaths and resignations:\n18 April 2004: Kingsley Rasanayagam (TNA-BAT) resigned shortly after being elected (before being sworn in). His replacement Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanethiran (TNA-BAT) was sworn in on 18 May 2004.\n23 April 2004: Mary Lucida (UPFA-NAT), Janadasa Peiris (UPFA-NAT) and E. A. D. C. Weerasekera (UPFA-NAT) resigned. Their replacements Mervyn Silva (UPFA-NAT), Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (UPFA-NAT) and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (UPFA-NAT) were sworn in on 18 May 2004.\n9 May 2004: Kataluwe Ratanasiya (JHU-COL) resigned. His replacement Akmeemana Dayarathana (JHU-COL) was sworn in on 8 June 2008.\n19 May 2004: W. P. S. Pushpakumara (UNF-NAT) resigned. His replacement Basheer Segu Dawood (UNF-NAT) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n20 May 2004: Ismail Mohammed Quddus (UNF-NAT) resigned. His replacement S. Nijamudeen (UNF-NAT) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n24 May 2004: Philipps Kumarasinghe Sri Liyanage (UPFA-NAT) resigned. His replacement Mohamed Mussammil (UPFA-NAT) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n27 May 2004: Mahipala Herath (UPFA-KEG) resigned to contest the Sabaragamuwa provincial council elections. His replacement H. R. Mithrapala (UPFA-KEG) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n28 May 2004: Reginald Cooray (UPFA-KAL) resigned to contest the Western provincial council elections. His replacement Nirmala Kotalawala (UPFA-KAL) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n23 June 2004: Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana (UNF-NAT) resigned. His replacement M. Mohamed Musthaffa (UNF-NAT) was sworn in on 20 July 2004.\n8 October 2004: Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala (JHU-GAM) resigned. His replacement was Alawwe Nandaloka (JHU-GAM).\n7 December 2004: S. B. Dissanayake (UNF-NUW) vacated his seat after being jailed by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court for contempt of court. His replacement Renuka Herath (UNF-NUW) was sworn in on 30 January 2006.\n12 August 2005: Lakshman Kadirgamar (UPFA-NAT) murdered. His replacement Dullas Alahapperuma (UPFA-NAT) was sworn in on 19 December 2005.\n19 November 2005: Mahinda Rajapaksa (UPFA-HAM) resigned to take up presidency. His replacement Nirupama Rajapaksa (UPFA-HAM) was sworn in on 25 November 2005.\n25 December 2005: Joseph Pararajasingham (TNA-NAT) murdered. His replacement Chandra Nehru Chandrakanthan was sworn in on 27 September 2006.\n19 April 2006: Siripala Amarasingha (JVP-GAM) resigned. His replacement was Sarath Kumara Gunaratna (UPFA-GAM).\n10 November 2006: Nadarajah Raviraj (TNA-JAF) murdered. His replacement Nallathamby Srikantha (TNA-JAF) was sworn in on 30 November 2006.\n31 January 2007: Omalpe Sobhita (JHU-NAT) resigned. His replacement was Champika Ranawaka (JHU-NAT).\n13 September 2007: Anwar Ismail (UPFA-NAT) died. His replacement Basil Rajapaksa (UPFA-NAT) was sworn in on 19 September 2007.\n14 December 2007: M. K. Eelaventhan (TNA-NAT) vacated his seat due to non-attendance. His replacement Raseen Mohammed Imam (TNA-NAT) was sworn in on 5 February 2008.\n1 January 2008: T. Maheswaran (UNF-COL) murdered. His replacement Mohamed Rajabdeen (UNF-COL) was sworn in on 8 January 2008.\n8 January 2008: D. M. Dassanayake (UPF-PUT) murdered. His replacement Piyankara Jayaratne (UPFA-PUT) was sworn in on 5 February 2008.\n9 February 2008: Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi (UPFA-GAM) killed. His replacement Reggie Ranatunga (UPFA-GAM) was sworn in on 21 February 2008.\n6 March 2008: K. Sivanesan (TNA-JAF) murdered. His replacement Solomon Cyril (TNA-JAF) was sworn in on 9 April 2008.\n16 March 2008: Anura Bandaranaike (UPFA-GAM) died. His replacement Sarana Gunawardena (UPFA-GAM) was sworn in on 6 May 2008.\n2 April 2008: Hasen Ali (SLMC-NAT), Rauff Hakeem (SLMC-AMP) and Basheer Segu Dawood (UNF-NAT) resigned to contest the Eastern provincial council elections. Hakeem's replacement A. M. M. Naoshad (SLMC-AMP) was sworn in on 9 April 2008. Segu Dawood's replacement Rauff Hakeem (UNF-NAT) was sworn in on 10 July 2008. Ali replaced himself and was sworn in on 22 July 2008.\n6 April 2008: Jeyaraj Fernandopulle (UPFA-GAM) murdered. His replacement Dulip Wijeysekara (UPFA-GAM) was sworn in on 6 May 2008.\n31 May 2008: Reggie Ranatunga (UPFA-GAM) died. His replacement Neil Rupasinghe (UPFA-GAM) was sworn in on 6 June 2008.\n30 June 2008: H. M. Wasantha Samarasinghe (JVP-NAT) resigned to contest the North Central provincial council elections. His replacement Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (UPFA-NAT) was sworn in on 7 October 2008.\n3 September 2008: Anuruddha Polgampola (UPFA-KEG) resigned. His replacement Lalith Dissanayake (UPFA-KEG) was sworn in on 12 September 2008.\n17 May 2009: Alick Aluvihare (UNF-MTL) died. His replacement Nandimithra Ekanayake (UNF-MTL) was sworn in on 9 June 2009.\n21 May 2009: Kanagasabai Pathmanathan (TNA-AMP) died. His replacement Thomas Thangathurai William (TNA-AMP) was sworn in on 12 June 2009.\n30 May 2009: Amarasiri Dodangoda (UPFA-GAL) died. His replacement Chandima Weerakkody (UPFA-GAL) was sworn in on 9 June 2009.\n25 July 2009: Sarath Ranawaka (UNF-KAL) died. His replacement Ananda Lakshman Wijemanna (UNF-KAL) was sworn in on 6 August 2009.\n1 January 2010: Periyasamy Chandrasekaran (UCPF-NUW) died. His replacement Santhanam Arulsamy (WLF-NUW) was sworn in on 5 February 2010.\n\nMembers\n\nReferences\n\nParliament of Sri Lanka\n2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election",
"This is a list of elected members of the Australian Capital Territory Advisory Council from its creation in 1930 until its replacement by the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly in 1974.\n\nFirst Council, May 1930 – May 1931\n\nSecond Council, May 1931 – September 1935\n\n1 Frederick Gell (Independent) resigned in August 1933. H. C. Green (Independent) was appointed as his replacement in September 1933.\n\nThird Council, September 1935 – September 1937\n\nFourth Council, September 1937 – September 1939\n\n1 Thomas Shakespeare (Independent) died in September 1938. John Muir (Labor) was appointed to replace him.\n\nFifth Council, September 1939 – September 1941\n\nSixth Council, September 1941 – September 1943\n\nSeventh Council, September 1943 – September 1945\n\nEighth Council, September 1945 – September 1947\n\nNinth Council, September 1947 – September 1949\n\nTenth Council, September 1949 – September 1951\n\n1 Lewis Nott (Independent) resigned in December 1949 to run for the House of Representatives at the federal election. Arthur Shakespeare (Independent) was appointed as his replacement.\n2 Jim Fraser (Labor) resigned in May 1951 to run for the House of Representatives at the federal election. Oliver Bourke (Labor) was appointed as his replacement.\n3 Ulrich Ellis (Independent) resigned in June 1951. Lewis Nott (Independent), who had been defeated by Fraser for his federal seat, was appointed as his replacement.\n\nEleventh Council, September 1951 – September 1953\n\n1 The Council was expanded in September 1952. R. G. Bailey (Independent) and Oliver Bourke (Labor) were appointed to fill the two new seats.\n\nTwelfth Council, September 1953 – September 1955\n\nThirteenth Council, September 1955 – September 1957\n\nFourteenth Council, September 1957 – September 1959\n\n1 Day resigned from the Liberal Party in 1957 and was re-elected as an Independent.\n\nFifteenth Council, September 1959 – September 1961\n\n1 William McIntyre Campbell (Independent) resigned in July 1960. Bill Pye (Independent) was appointed as his replacement.\n2 Heinz Arndt (Labor) resigned in September 1960. Herbert Blair (Labor) was appointed as his replacement.\n\nSixteenth Council, September 1961 – September 1964\n\n1 Bert Blair (Labor) died in November 1963. Bill Spellman (Labor) was appointed as his replacement in December.\n\nSeventeenth Council, September 1964 – September 1967\n\nEighteenth Council, September 1967 – September 1970\n\n1 Lyndall Ryan (Labor) resigned in December 1968. Fred McCauley (Labor) was appointed as her replacement.\n\n2 By 1967 the Australian Capital Territory Progress and Welfare Council had dissolved, and Pead thereafter stood as an Independent candidate.\n\nNineteenth Council, September 1970 – September 1974\n\nReferences\n\nElected Members of the ACT Advisory Council\n\nMembers of Australian Capital Territory parliaments by term\n20th-century Australian politicians"
] |
[
"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition",
"What album did they release in1976?",
"Black Market",
"What was the music style on the album?",
"melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal.",
"did the band stay together during this time?",
"Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks.",
"Who was his replacement?",
"His replacement was Jaco Pastorius,"
] |
C_19806bc666674bc0b2426e3e0f256118_1
|
Was he a good fit for the band?
| 5 |
Was Jaco Pastorius a good fit for the band Weather Report?
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Weather Report
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1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable.
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Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
|
|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
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Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"\"Everything is Automatic\" is a song by the Matthew Good Band. It was released as the first single from the band's second studio album, Underdogs.\n\nTrack listing\n\nInspiration\nIn a 1997 interview, Good said that he was inspired to write \"Everything Is Automatic\" after watching a television program about liposuction:\n\n\"I was watching some show about how this woman had to get this (stuff) sucked out of her hips so she could fit into her dress to go to an opera,\" says Good. \"It's a song about how things are so accessible. People used to worry about things like making sure there was gas in the truck so they could drive their wares to market and now they're worried about getting a new nose. And I find that pathetic.\"\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for \"Everything Is Automatic\" was directed by Bill Morrison and filmed in Burnaby in October, 1997. The video features several up-close, zoomed and defocussed shots of the band preparing and performing for a video shoot. These are intermixed with fast-action shots of various streets and computer-generated billboards with catchphrases like \"Think of your future, prepare for the \" and \"Everything is \".\n\nThe video was nominated for \"Best Video\" at the 1998 Juno Awards.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1997 singles\nMatthew Good Band songs\nSongs written by Matthew Good\nSongs written by Dave Genn\n1997 songs\nMercury Records singles\nPolyGram singles",
"Dark Skies is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band Fit for a King. It was released on September 14, 2018 through Solid State Records and was produced by Drew Fulk.\n\nCritical reception\n\nThe album was received highly with mostly positive reviews. Carlos Zelaya from Dead Press! rated the album positively but saying: \"You pretty much know what you'll get with Fit For A King, but Dark Skies is certainly the sign of a band that haven't forgotten that the word 'metalcore' contains 'metal'.\" Indie Vision Music stated that \"Fit For A King continues to carve out a piece of metal history for themselves with this impressive album because they really did cover all the bases of what a metal album can bring: brutally heavy, melodic, thrashy, emotional lyrics that range across many topics, and two vocalists who compliment each other endlessly. Dark Skies will be playing in many playlists and shuffles with good reason.\" Jesus Freak Hideout rated the album 4 out of 5 and said: \"Dark Skies may be Fit for a King's fifth studio record, but the energy, passion, and enthusiasm these men have for their craft and ministry has not changed since they entered the scene with Descendants. Despite a couple of minor shortcomings, Dark Skies proves that the band can still hold their own and belt out some earth-shattering tunes while they're at it.\"\n\nMegan Langley from KillYourStereo gave the album 85 out of 100 and said: \"As you can tell, I absolutely loved this new Fit For A King record. It brought quite a bit of variety more than the band's other works, which makes it stand out even more. Especially in the current metalcore scene, I feel. The band brought so many solid, memorable moments throughout all ten of these tracks; providing some incredible performances and a near-perfect mix of aggressive and melodic elements too. Metalcore fan, a Fit For A King fan, or just a lover of heavy music, you gotta check this one out!\" New Noise gave the album 3.5 out of 5 and stated: \"Nevertheless, Fit for a King have provided another bounty of glorious metalcore with Dark Skies, and fans are likely to rejoice the product; it certainly has power.\" Stitched Sound praised the album saying, \"Throughout the album, the perspective shifts as time passes and they come to a point of self realization and solace.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nCredits adapted from AllMusic.\n\nFit for a King\n Ryan Kirby – lead vocals \n Bobby Lynge – guitars, backing vocals\n Ryan \"Tuck\" O'Leary – bass, clean vocals\n Jared Easterling – drums\n\nAdditional personnel\n Drew Fulk – production, engineering, mixing, mastering\n Brandon Ebel – executive production\n Jeff Dunne – mixing, mastering\n Adam Skatula – A&R\n Corinne Alexandra – artwork, design, photography\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2018 albums\nFit for a King (band) albums\nSolid State Records albums"
] |
[
"Weather Report",
"1976: In transition",
"What album did they release in1976?",
"Black Market",
"What was the music style on the album?",
"melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal.",
"did the band stay together during this time?",
"Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks.",
"Who was his replacement?",
"His replacement was Jaco Pastorius,",
"Was he a good fit for the band?",
"Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable."
] |
C_19806bc666674bc0b2426e3e0f256118_1
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Did any former member return?
| 6 |
Did any former member of the band Weather Report return after departing?
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Weather Report
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1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon. However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuna (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar). Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer. Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from Down Beat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuna moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was filmed for future release. CANNOTANSWER
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Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (
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Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded (and initially co-led) by Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.
The band started as a free improvising jazz group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around the world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row.
Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for the fusion-era work of Miles Davis), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.
Musical style
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the "free" variety), but also incorporating elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members generally distanced themselves from that term.
From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined the band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach, and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland").
Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines. Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed) through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise" (which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes, however, Zawinul was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound.
Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s. His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report, Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead, he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones, Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz, taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.
Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).
With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a drummer and a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years.
History
1970: Inception and formation
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s, while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet. During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.
Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or, as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...").
There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed the initial core of the project.
To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Weather Report's debut album Weather Report featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass, with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described the album as "music beyond category".
In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric. The first side featured new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo, featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo). The studio side used extended versions of the band including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers. The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.
I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band, away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency would develop further.
1973: Move towards groove
On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational sections.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.
At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk. Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them. Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in commercial success. When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which he had co-written with Zawinul).
Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.
1974–1975: Further into groove
Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the period.
According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once again, drummerless.
For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima) and a new drummer – Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.
The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers, even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.
During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin won the DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.
1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. Weather Report's music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others). Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John Scofield on guitar).
Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with the former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.
Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour, Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which was filmed for future release.
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.
The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).
During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label ARC at Columbia. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).
The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.
The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr. Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert Thomas Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm" (showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).
By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul worked on new Weather Report material in California.
Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) – their second eponymous release following their 1971 debut – was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things."
Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead) meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new band.
1982–1985: A new band
On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited 23-year-old drummer Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of musicians including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon. Hakim was immediately entrusted with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy, with whom he had worked in Labelle.
The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the 1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The Manhattan Transfer.
Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement with cutting-edge music technology, and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson.
Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by singers Bobby McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music via a set of synthesizers.
1986: Final split
Both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had run its course.
In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate on solo work. Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name, Zawinul then ended Weather Report. The final album under the Weather Report name, This is This!, was released in June 1986 and fulfilled the band's contract with Columbia Records. Two of its tracks featured guitar work from Carlos Santana, and it also marked the return of Peter Erskine on drums, with Hakim only appearing on one track.
1986–present: After Weather Report
Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it – after a fashion – as Weather Update. For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu, and Peter Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. replacing Scofield and Cinélu prior to live appearances. Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).
Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as a bandleader, which continues to the present day.
In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July 10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis). A projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales for Shorter's 1995 CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.
Five of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma). He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016 (apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest after neuroendocrine cancer. Dom Um Romão, the group's drummer from 1971 to 1974, died in 2005 aged 79.
Lineups
Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002, featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!) and a DVD of the entire September 28, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach, Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance (featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well. Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.
In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin 1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Weather Report has won one Grammy from six nominations.
|-
!1972
|"I Sing The Body Electric"
|Best Jazz Performance by a Group
|
|-
!1979
|"8:30"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1981
|"Night Passage"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1982
|"Weather Report"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1983
|"Procession"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
|-
!1985
||"Sportin' Life"
|Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
|
Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
Weather Report's official website www.WeatherReportMusic.com
Weather Report biography by Richard S. Ginell, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
The Weather Report Annotated Discography
Weather Report discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Weather Report albums to be listened on Spotify
Weather Report albums to be listened on YouTube
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1986
Jazz fusion ensembles
American jazz ensembles from New York City
Musical groups from New York City
Grammy Award winners
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"Major (retd) Habibullah Khan Tarin (born 1947) is a former Pakistan Army officer, a Member of Provincial Assembly and a former Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.\n\nHe belongs to the Tarin (or Tareen) tribe of Haripur District, Hazara, Pakistan and is settled in Darwesh village .\n\nKhan did not take part in various elections, due to corruption charges against him in different schemes, and later while making his return into politics was disqualified in 2008 elections over Fake Degree, and currently still khan doesn't hold any government office. He is currently in PML N and his son is expected to contest in his place in coming years from his constituency pk40 haripur.\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\n1947 births\nPeople from Haripur District\nPakistani politicians",
"Mike John Thompson (born December 22, 1971) is a former defensive tackle in the National Football League. Thompson was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars and played that season with the team. The following season, he was a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, but did not see any playing time during the regular season. After playing the following season with the Bengals he played two more with the Cleveland Browns. He was also a member of the Browns during the 2001 NFL season, but once again did not see any playing time.\n\nReferences\n\n1971 births\nLiving people\nAmerican football defensive tackles\nCincinnati Bengals players\nCleveland Browns players\nGreen Bay Packers players\nJacksonville Jaguars players\nWisconsin Badgers football players\nPeople from Portage, Wisconsin\nPlayers of American football from Wisconsin"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters"
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
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What is Another Earthquake?
| 1 |
What is Another Earthquake?
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Aaron Carter
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Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
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Carter's next album,
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Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| true |
[
"Oaxaca earthquake may refer to several earthquakes in or around what is today the state of Oaxaca, Mexico:\n\n 1787 New Spain earthquake\n 1931 Oaxaca earthquake\n 1965 Oaxaca earthquake\n 1980 Oaxaca earthquake\n 1999 Oaxaca earthquake\n 2010 Oaxaca earthquake\n 2012 Guerrero–Oaxaca earthquake\n 2017 Chiapas earthquake",
"The 2019 Eastern Samar Earthquake struck the islands of Visayas in the Philippines on April 23, 2019 at 1:37:51 PM(PHT).It had a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a local magnitude of 6.2 with a max intensity of VI based on the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale(PEIS). The epicenter was in San Julian, Eastern Samar and the hypocenter was at a depth of 64 km(~39.76 mi). As of April 30, 2019 there were 172 aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 1.6 to 4.6. The earthquake did not result in any casualties but did injure 48 people and damaged about 245 homes. \n\nEastern Samar is located near an active subduction zone, the Philippine trench, where the Philippine Sea plate subducts beneath the Sunda plate, and movement along the trench is what caused the earthquake.\n\nThe earthquake struck less than a day after another magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Luzon, but it was found that these earthquakes were unrelated.\n\nGeography of the Philippines \n\nThe Visayas Islands are located in the central part of the Philippines consisting of seven main islands that make up its land. Their topography is full of tall mountains and large plains that provide the cultivation of sugarcane and rice. Their location in the Visayas sea provides fishing opportunities for the island to obtain more food in a sustainable way. Common produce also grown here includes maize, coconuts, bananas, tobacco, and various root crops. \n\nThe location of these islands is one of the most seismically active due to the subduction zones the Philippines sits on. The multiple trenches indicate the many subduction zones around the Philippines creating these large magnitude earthquakes. The Philippines itself is right next to the Philippine Sea plate that is subducting underneath the Sunda Plate on the Eastern shore of the country.\n\nEarthquake Details\n\nMainshock \nAlthough the earthquake happened a day after an earlier earthquake struck Luzon, the state agency has stated that the Visayas earthquake is unrelated to the prior earthquake. The Visayas earthquake was determined to be caused by the movement of the Philippine Trench. The movement at the trench was specifically the Philippine Sea plate subducting below the neighboring plate, releasing seismic energy. \n\nThere was no tsunami because the earthquake occurred on land and deep underground. Forty-eight people were injured, most of them slightly by falling objects, and slight damage was reported near the epicenter. The Leyte Provincial Capitol in Tacloban sustained damage which led to the provincial government abandoning the building in May 2019, with the intention of converting the building into a museum.\n\n“It was really very strong. at first it was moderate until 5 seconds it appears to be every infrastructure are shaking, including the basketball court that was beside our house, and even while running outside the house to look for safer ground. i myself can”- English translation of someone who was in Calbayog, reporting what was felt during the earthquake in their location.\n\nIntensity\n\nAftershocks \n\nThis earthquake had an estimated 172 aftershocks(As of April 30, 2019) that were in many different places around Samar over the next several days, 6 of which were felt. These ranged from magnitudes of 1.6 to 4.6 with slight shaking as seen from the commenters. While it was technically possible that another earthquake of a higher magnitude could have occurred at this same location, it was extremely unlikely and did not end up happening, confirming that the 6.5 Mw event was the mainshock.\n\nAftershocks could also be felt all the way in India according to this commentor: \"I was sleeping it is 1:50am in India and i was awakened by the earthquake. My neighbors ran outside and waited for sometime until the earthquake stopped.\"\n\nDamages \n\nMany of the buildings near the epicenters were not built properly to withstand high magnitude earthquakes; things like tiles fell off of the ceilings and walls if they were not secured enough. A total of 245 houses were damaged with one of them fully destroyed. Along with the damaged buildings a lot of power outages occurred the day of the earthquake which was then restored within 24-hours.\n\nSee also\n Philippine Trench\n 2012 Visayas earthquake\n 2012 Samar earthquake\n 2019 Luzon earthquake\n\nReferences\n\n2019 disasters in the Philippines\n2019 earthquakes\nEarthquakes in the Philippines\nApril 2019 events in the Philippines"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,"
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
Were there any hits on this album?
| 2 |
Were there any hits on Another Earthquake?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember".
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| true |
[
"Greatest Hits is a 1988 compilation album by Kenny Rogers.\n\nAll of the tracks on the album were selected from his various recordings for RCA Nashville between 1983–87. There is one track that was not originally a single called \"She's Ready for Someone to Love Her\", which makes fully half of this greatest hits track list identical to the most recent 1987 album I Prefer the Moonlight.\n\nOne single that is notably missing is \"Tomb of the Unknown Love\" from 1985's The Heart of the Matter. The song was a #1 single in both the US and Canada. Also missing is Rogers' 1986 single \"The Pride is Back\" which made #30 on the US Billboard AC chart, it had not yet been released on any album. \"I Don't Call Him Daddy\" was released as a single in support of this album, but with little promotion it peaked at #86 on the country chart.\n\nTrack listing\n\nChart performance\n\n1988 greatest hits albums\nKenny Rogers compilation albums\nRCA Records compilation albums",
"Every Moment: The Best of Joy Williams is the fourth album by Christian music artist Joy Williams. It includes her greatest hits, including \"Hide\", her biggest single on Christian radio to date. It also features a new song (\"Any More Sure\") and her song \"Here With Us\" from the compilation Christmas album Come Let Us Adore Him. It was released on September 5, 2006.\n\nTrack listing\n\nSingles\n\"Any More Sure\"\n\nNotes\nThe song \"By Surprise\" is slightly different on this album, than it is on the album By Surprise.\n\nReferences\n\nJoy Williams (singer) albums\n2006 greatest hits albums"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\"."
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
What lawsuits were filed?
| 3 |
What lawsuits were filed for Another Earthquake?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| false |
[
"Lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election refers to either:\n\n Pre-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election, filed before Election Day\n Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election, filed during or after Election Day",
"The Ritalin class-action lawsuits were a series of federal lawsuits in 2000, filed in five separate US states. All five lawsuits were dismissed by the end of 2002. The lawsuits alleged that the makers of methylphenidate (brand name Ritalin) and the American Psychiatric Association had conspired to invent and promote the disorder ADHD to create a highly profitable market for the drug. The lawsuit also alleged that CHADD (children and adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) deliberately attempted to increase the supply of Ritalin and ease restrictions on the supply of Ritalin to help increase profits for Novartis.\n\nPrevious lawsuits and history of class action\n\nBeginning in the 1980s, a series of lawsuits were filed based on the perceived harmful side effects of Ritalin. John Coale, who had participated in one of these lawsuits, joined what became an ever larger contingent of lawyers involved in what was then a growing series of Ritalin class action lawsuits. In the late 1990s, there was a significant increase in production of Ritalin. A minority but vocal group of critics perceived that a crisis was on hand. Coale also expressed alarm, \"They were giving this stuff away like candy”. The Church of Scientology advocacy organization, Citizens Commission on Human Rights, and anti-psychiatry critics believed Ritalin to be highly dangerous and completely unnecessary. Coale seemed to share these beliefs as he stated the purpose of the lawsuit to be; “...to put [Ritalin] off the market.\" The St. Petersburg Times wrote at that time that Coale, like his wife Greta Van Susteren, was a practicing Scientologist. Richard Scruggs, like John Coale, and a few other lawyers who participated in the Ritalin class action lawsuits, had previously helped win a landmark settlement from the asbestos and tobacco industries, Ritalin was to be the next major battleground. Scruggs would lead and also become a spokesman for the plaintiffs. He asserted the Ritalin defendants, \"manufactured a disease\"...and \"it has been grossly over-prescribed. It is a huge risk.\" Peter Breggin who is a noted psychiatrist and industry critic, was hired as a medical consultant by the firm and was also involved as a consultant in the other lawsuits.\n\nThe first class action was filed in Texas by the law firm Waters & Kraus in 2000. They created a webpage called Ritalinfraud.com which had an online form to seek additional participants in class action lawsuits. According to Breggin, plaintiff Andy Waters had previously read his book Talking back to Ritalin before filing his lawsuit. The firm believed that the improper conduct of Novartis rivaled the improper conduct of the tobacco and asbestos industries and that the drug company could be liable for billions of dollars. The firm claimed that Novartis specifically took the following steps to dramatically increase the sale of Ritalin.\n\n Actively promoting and supporting the concept that a significant percentage of children suffer from a \"disease\" which required narcotic treatment/therapy;\n Actively promoting Ritalin as the \"drug of choice\" to treat children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD:\n Actively supporting groups such as defendant CHADD, both financially and with other means, so that such organizations would promote and support (as a supposed neutral party) the ever-increasing implementation of ADD/ADHD diagnoses as well as directly increasing Ritalin sales;\n Distributing misleading sales and promotional literature to parents, schools and other interested persons in a successful effort to further increase the number of diagnoses and the number of persons prescribed Ritalin.\n\nNovartis and APA respond\n\nA spokesperson for Novartis responded to the Texas suit, \"Ritalin has been used safely and effectively in the treatment of millions of ADHD patients for over 40 years, and is the most studied drug prescribed for the disorder.\"\n\nThe American Psychiatric Association stated, \"the allegation that it had conspired with Novartis to create the ADHD diagnosis was \"ludicrous and totally false,\" and said there existed \"a mountain of scientific evidence to refute these meritless allegations.\"\n\nOutcome\nThe first suit to be dismissed occurred in California in 2001. U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster dismissed the suit under California's anti-SLAPP statute. A SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) is a form of litigation filed to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism. The Anti-SLAPP statute is designed to eliminate potential lawsuits that are in reality political actions by stopping them early in court procedures. Judge Brewster dismissed the suit stating that the defendants' speech is \"protected under both the United States and California Constitutions\" and that plaintiffs \"failed to state a cause of action.\" In addition to dismissing the suit, the court also ordered that the plaintiffs pay the legal fees for Novartis, APA and CHADD. \n\nIn the conclusion to one of the other lawsuits, Judge Tagla stated \"that the allegations were fully without merit. Plaintiffs failed to provide any concrete statements to document their claims.\" \n\nBy 2002 all five class action lawsuits had been dismissed or had been withdrawn. A Novartis spokesperson stated;\"...the fact that all five of the class action lawsuits have been dismissed, sends a strong message that the decision of how to treat ADHD is between the parent, patient and physician, and has no place in the courts.\"\n\nSee also\nList of class-action lawsuits\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Original website set up by the Plaintiff's law firm\n Psychiatric News\n PBS series on ADHD\n Novartis press release\n\nClass action lawsuits\nBiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder\nNeuropharmacology"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\".",
"What lawsuits were filed?",
"Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,"
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
Why did they do this?
| 4 |
Why did Carter's parents filed a lawsuit?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album,
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| true |
[
"Imponderables is a series of eleven books written by David Feldman and published by Harper Collins. The books examine, investigate, and explain common, yet puzzling phenomena. Examples include \"Why do your eyes hurt when you are tired?\", \"Why do judges wear black robes?\", and \"Why do you rarely see purple Christmas lights?\", among many others. The word \"imponderable\" is used to describe such mysteries of everyday life. The books are effectively a frequently asked questions list for people who wonder why and how the world works as it does.\n\nThe first book in this series, Imponderables: The Solution to the Mysteries of Everyday Life, was illustrated by Kas Schwan and was published in 1986.\n\nThe series \nThe books in the series (each named after an imponderable covered in the book) are:\nImponderables (1986, reissued as Why Don't Cats Like to Swim? in 2004), Harper, \nWhy Do Clocks Run Clockwise? (1987), Harper, \nWhen Do Fish Sleep? (1989), Harper, \nWhy Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? (1990), HarperCollins, \nDo Penguins Have Knees? (1991), Harper, \nWhen Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? (1992, reissued as Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? in 2005), Harper, \nHow Does Aspirin Find a Headache? (1993), Harper, \nWhat Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway? (1995), Berkley, \nHow Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch? (1996), Berkley, \nDo Elephants Jump? (2004), HarperCollins, \nWhy Do Pirates Love Parrots? (2006), Harper, \n\nThe books feature additional chapters on Frustables, which are defined as imponderables that are uniquely frustrating because they lack a clear answer. Some of the recurring frustables are:\n\nWhy do you so often see one shoe lying along the side of the road?\nWhy do the English drive on the left and most other countries on the right?\nWhy do American women shave their armpits?\nWhy do doctors have such messy handwriting?\n\nFeldman also wrote an offshoot book dealing solely with mysteries of the English language, titled Who Put the Butter in Butterfly? (1989), HarperCollins, .\n\nThe term \"Imponderables\" is a trademark.\n\nSee also \nThe Answer Man\nStraight Dope, a newspaper column based on a similar premise\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nImponderables website\n\nPublications established in 1986\nTrivia books\nSeries of books\nHarperCollins books",
"\"Llangollen Market\" is a song from early 19th century Wales. It is known to have been performed at an eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1858.\n\nThe text of the song survives in a manuscript held by the National Museum of Wales, which came into the possession of singer Mary Davies, a co-founder of the Welsh Folk-Song Society.\n\nThe song tells the tale of a young man from the Llangollen area going off to war and leaving behind his broken-hearted girlfriend. Originally written in English, the song has been translated into Welsh and recorded by several artists such as Siân James, Siobhan Owen, Calennig and Siwsann George.\n\nLyrics\nIt’s far beyond the mountains that look so distant here,\nTo fight his country’s battles, last Mayday went my dear;\nAh, well shall I remember with bitter sighs the day,\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nAh, cruel was my father that did my flight restrain,\nAnd I was cruel-hearted that did at home remain,\nWith you, my love, contented, I’d journey far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nWhile thinking of my Owen, my eyes with tears do fill,\nAnd then my mother chides me because my wheel stands still,\nBut how can I think of spinning when my Owen’s far away;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?\n\nTo market at Llangollen each morning do I go,\nBut how to strike a bargain no longer do I know;\nMy father chides at evening, my mother all the day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did I stay?\n\nOh, would it please kind heaven to shield my love from harm,\nTo clasp him to my bosom would every care disarm,\nBut alas, I fear, 'tis distant - that happy, happy day;\nWhy, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did stay?\n\nReferences\n\nWelsh folk songs"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\".",
"What lawsuits were filed?",
"Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,",
"Why did they do this?",
"failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album,"
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
What happened with the lawsuit?
| 5 |
What happened with the lawsuit of Carter's parents?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments.
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| true |
[
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What What (In the Butt)\" is a viral video created by Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo for the song of the same name by Samwell. It is known for its numerous blatant and camp references to homosexuality and anal sex. The lyrics of the song, a production of Mike Stasny, mostly revolve around the title. The video was made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and uploaded on Valentine's Day 2007 to YouTube. As of October 2021, the video has over 72 million views.\n\nThemes and imagery\nOn 5 March 2007, with regard to the Christian imagery in the video, Samwell said, in an interview with KROQ-FM, that the opening image is \"not a cross, but a flaming symbol that [he] just happened to use\". According to Stasny, however: \"[Samwell] wanted it because he's a Christian but he doesn't do Christian morality. For him, having a burning cross is a way to pay respect to his beliefs.\"\n\nThe video also parodies the flower petal scene from the movie American Beauty (1999).\n\nOn April 8, 2007, Brownmark Films released an interview with Samwell, in which he discussed the public reception of the song at length.\n\nPerformances and appearances\nIn April 2008, Samwell appeared on the BBC television show Lily Allen and Friends for an interview and performed a live version of \"What What (In the Butt)\" with choreographed dancers. The video was also featured in episode #53 of ADD-TV in Manhattan. \"What What (In the Butt)\" was an official selection at the Milwaukee International Film Festival and the Mix Brasil Film Festival.\n\nIn June 2010 Samwell appeared on an episode of Comedy Central's Tosh.0, television show about viral videos. The segment told the story of how the \"What What\" video was created, followed by an acoustic duet version of the song by Samwell and Josh Homme, lead singer for Queens Of The Stone Age and guitar player for Kyuss.\n\nIn 2009, the creators of the video, and Samwell himself, claimed that a feature film called What What (In the Butt): The Movie was in the works.\n\nOn November 12, 2010, Brownmark Films filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against MTV Networks, South Park Studios, and Viacom for their use of \"What What in the Butt\" in a 2008 South Park episode. In July 2011, a federal judge decided that South Park's use of the video fell under the fair use exception to copyright law, and thus the defendants did not owe damages. The decision was unusual in a copyright lawsuit because it was made on a motion to dismiss, before summary judgment. The appeal was dismissed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on June 7, 2012. Additionally, the district court awarded attorneys' fees to the defendants because the lawsuit was \"objectively unreasonable\".\n\nIn January 2013, a behind-the-scenes video was released which showed footage from the original 2006 green screen shoot.\n\nIn popular culture\nIn the April 2, 2008 episode of South Park, \"Canada on Strike\", the boys post a viral video on \"YouToob\" (a fictional version of YouTube) of Butters performing \"What What (In the Butt)\".\nIn October 2011 a porn parody of Comedy Central's Tosh.0 was released called Tosh Porn Oh. The film (porn star Dane Cross' directorial debut) contained a segment based on the \"What What (In the Butt)\" video with Samwell replaced by the pornographic actress Skin Diamond. The segment features a recreation of the original video which, according to the end credits, was fully licensed by Brownmark Films.\nThe \"What What\" song surfaced on an episode of Sweden’s Got Talent in which four naked young men danced to the song.\nThe creators of the \"What What\" video projected images of Samwell's iconic pink zeppelin onto buildings in Los Angeles for the five-year anniversary of the project.\n\nSee also\nLGBT hip hop\n\"In the Bush\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Official website\n \"What What\" re-created segment on South Park\n Blogcritics Magazine interview with the creators of the video\n \n\nViral videos\nSongs about buttocks\nSongs about sexuality\nLGBT-related songs\n2007 YouTube videos\n2007 songs\nInternet memes introduced in 2007\nMusic memes"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\".",
"What lawsuits were filed?",
"Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,",
"Why did they do this?",
"failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album,",
"What happened with the lawsuit?",
"On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments."
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
What is Most Requested Hits?
| 6 |
What is Most Requested Hits?
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Aaron Carter
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Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
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a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better",
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Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| true |
[
"Now That's What I Call Classic Rock Hits is one of many genre-themed compilation albums from the Now! series in the United States, this one focusing on popular classic rock songs from the 1970s. It was released on May 1, 2012.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReception\n\nIn his review for Allmusic, Gregory Heaney says \"the Now series delivers a dose of good ol' classic rock with Now That's What I Call Classic Rock Hits,\" which \"gathers some of rock's most enduring crossover hits.\" Now That's What I Call Classic Rock Hits is \"an album that achieves its primary goal of being able to please most of the people most of the time with a wide-ranging selection of hits that should fit into most anyone's definition of classic rock.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official U.S. Now That's What I Call Music website\n\n2012 compilation albums\nClassic Rock Hits\nEMI Records compilation albums",
"Scotland's Hot 20 (The Hot 20) is the name of a Scottish syndicated radio programme hosted by Greigsy.\n \nIt is produced from Clyde 1's studios in Glasgow, \nairing Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm on all of Bauer Place stations in Scotland.\n\nOverview\nThe show counts down Scotland's most 20 bought, streamed, downloaded and requested songs of the week with two 'One To Watch' future hits as well as 'Former UK Number One' songs.\n\nScotland's Hot 20"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\".",
"What lawsuits were filed?",
"Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,",
"Why did they do this?",
"failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album,",
"What happened with the lawsuit?",
"On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments.",
"What is Most Requested Hits?",
"a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, \"One Better\","
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
What is Saturday night?
| 7 |
What is Saturday night?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour.
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| false |
[
"ESPN College Football Primetime may refer to one of several shows produced by ESPN:\nESPN College Football Saturday Primetime is the Saturday night game on ESPN.\nESPN2 College Football Saturday Primetime is the Saturday night game on ESPN2.\nESPN College Football Thursday Primetime is the Thursday night game on ESPN\nESPN College Football Friday Primetime is the Friday night game on ESPN2.\n\n \nCollege Football Primetime",
"\"Saturday Night\" is a single released in 2002 by the group The Underdog Project. The song is similar to their first hit \"Summer Jam\" as they both have the whistle in them. The single was also well received in Europe, although it didn't have much airplay in the US or UK.\n\nTrack listing\nGerman CD single\n \"Saturday Night\" (Radio Cut)\t\t\n \"Saturday Night\" (Seven Gemini Remix)\t\t\n \"Saturday Night\" (Extended)\t\t\n \"Saturday Night\" (Alternative Version)\t\t\n \"Saturday Night\" (Seven Gemini Remix Instrumental)\t\t\n \"Saturday Night\" (Acappella)\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nSongs about Saturdays\n2002 singles\nThe Underdog Project songs\nEurodance songs\n2002 songs\nPolyGram singles\nSongs about nights"
] |
[
"Aaron Carter",
"2002-2008: Another Earthquake, lawsuits, relationships, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters",
"What is Another Earthquake?",
"Carter's next album,",
"Were there any hits on this album?",
"America A.O.\" and the ballad \"Do You Remember\".",
"What lawsuits were filed?",
"Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager,",
"Why did they do this?",
"failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album,",
"What happened with the lawsuit?",
"On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments.",
"What is Most Requested Hits?",
"a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, \"One Better\",",
"What is Saturday night?",
"released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour."
] |
C_d236229a2b4c4097bd89f1ce4375f0a0_0
|
Was this successful?
| 8 |
Was Saturday night's Carter successful?
|
Aaron Carter
|
Carter's next album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002, during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show, All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes." During that time, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Lou Pearlman (now deceased), in 2002 alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company, Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. Carter had also dated Lindsay Lohan along with his girlfriend Hilary Duff at the same time (leading to a feud between the two), but he broke up with Lohan in April 2003, and resumed dating Duff. Later, that same year, he reportedly cheated on her and Duff ended their on-and-off relationship after two years. Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003. "Saturday Night", which was released on March 22, 2005 and was promoted by Carter during his summer 2005 Remix Tour. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross. On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter within the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter allegedly reneged on a recording deal. Carter had signed the contract on December 7, 2004, when he was 17 and underage. His attorney however stated that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October-November 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house. On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter had broken off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
Aaron Charles Carter (born December 7, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He first came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the first years of the 21st century with his four studio albums.
Carter began performing at age seven and released his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age nine, selling a million copies worldwide. His second album Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000) sold three million copies in the United States, and Carter began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and touring with the Backstreet Boys shortly after the record's release. Carter's next album, Oh Aaron, also went platinum, and the musician released what would be his last studio album for 16 years, Another Earthquake!, in 2002, followed by his 2003 Most Requested Hits collection.
He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Broadway musical Seussical, the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and made several one-off performances. In 2014, he released a single featuring rapper Pat SoLo, "Ooh Wee". Carter released the single, "Fool's Gold", on April 1, 2016, and an EP titled LøVë in February 2017. His fifth studio album of the same name was released on February 16, 2018.
Early life
Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7, 1987 in Tampa, Florida, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter (1952–2017), ran a retirement home. The family was originally from New York City, where his older brother Nick, of the boy band Backstreet Boys, was born. In addition to his brother, he has three sisters: twin sister Angel (a model), B.J. and Leslie (1986–2012). Carter attended the Frank D. Miles Elementary School and the Ruskin School in Florida.
Music career
1997–1999: Music beginnings and self-titled debut album
Carter began his career as the lead singer of Dead End, a band formed after the members met at a Tampa rock school. He left the band after two years because they were interested in alternative rock while Carter was interested in pop.
Carter made his first solo appearance, singing a cover of The Jets' "Crush on You", when opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. The performance was followed by a record contract, and in the fall of 1997, he released his first single "Crush on You". Carter's debut studio album Aaron Carter, was released on December 1, 1997. The album achieved gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany, and was released in the United States on June 16, 1998.
2000–2001: Aaron's Party (Come Get It), acting debut, and Oh Aaron
Carter's second studio album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), was released in the United States on September 26, 2000 under the Jive label. The album sold more than three million copies in the United States and was certified 3x platinum by RIAA. The album included the hit singles, "I Want Candy", "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)", "That's How I Beat Shaq" and "Bounce", all of which received airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon. He also made several guest appearances on Nickelodeon and performed as the opening act in several concerts for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again Tour.
In March 2001, he made his acting debut, guest starring on an episode of the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire. That same month, he and fellow teen star Samantha Mumba performed a concert in MGM studios live on Disney Channel, titled Aaron Carter and Samantha Mumba in Concert. Aaron's part of the concert was released to DVD that same month as Aaron's Party: Live in Concert. In April 2001, he made his Broadway debut, playing JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical.
At the age of 13, Carter recorded his third studio album Oh Aaron, which was released on August 7, 2001, and featured his first duet recording with his brother Nick, and a song with the group No Secrets. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll in conjunction with the album's release. Oh Aaron went platinum that same year and a live concert at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was released to DVD as Oh Aaron: Live In Concert. His songs "Leave It Up to Me", "A.C.'s Alien Nation", and "Go Jimmy Jimmy" were used in the soundtrack for the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
2002–2008: Another Earthquake, Most Requested Hits, Saturday Night and House of Carters
Carter's fourth studio album, Another Earthquake!, was released on September 3, 2002 during the "Rock, Rap, and Retro" tour. The album featured the patriotic-themed "America A.O." and the ballad "Do You Remember". He guest-starred on three episodes of the Nickelodeon TV show All That and sang the theme song to the PBS animated series Liberty's Kids, titled "Through my own Eyes".
In 2002, Carter's parents filed a lawsuit against his former manager Lou Pearlman (now deceased), alleging failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties on Carter's 1998 album, which was released through Pearlman's label and production company Trans Continental. On March 13, 2003, Pearlman was declared in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents relating to royalty payments. The suit was settled out of court.
Carter's Most Requested Hits, a collection including tracks from his last three albums as well as a new single, "One Better", was released on November 3, 2003.
"Saturday Night" was released on March 22, 2005 and promoted by Carter that summer. The song was released by Trans Continental label, with Lou Pearlman as executive producer. The single was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Popstar, in which Carter starred. The direct-to-video film was based heavily on his own life as a performer. A real-life Motocross racer, Carter also appeared in 2005's Supercross.
On March 21, 2006, Trans Continental filed a lawsuit against Carter with the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing that Carter reneged on a recording deal. Carter signed the contract on December 7, 2004 when he was 17; his attorney argued that Carter had the right to "cancel or void various agreements" that were signed when he was a minor.
Carter and his siblings starred in a reality show, House of Carters, which ran in October–November 2006 on E!. The series featured all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house.
2009–2013: Dancing with the Stars and return to touring
In 2009, Carter joined season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they finished in fifth place.
During this time he also released some music online, including the single "Dance with Me" featuring Flo Rida. On August 22, 2010, Carter performed in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY at a benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol, a 3-year-old stricken with Stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.
On January 23, 2011, Carter's manager Johnny Wright announced that Carter entered a treatment facility "to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with." After entering the facility, Carter's first message to his fans was, "The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human." On February 10, 2011, it was announced that Carter had successfully completed a month of rehab at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Carter was scheduled to perform a second benefit concert for Audrianna Bartol on February 5, 2011, in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. On March 24, 2011, he performed at a benefit concert for the activist organization, "Four Years. Go" in Manville, New Jersey. On September 2, 2011, Carter performed a show at the Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, Florida.
On November 7, 2011, Carter began starring in the Off-Broadway production of the world's longest running musical, The Fantasticks, at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. Carter was cast in the role of Matt, the play's central character.
In January 2012, Carter was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated in the first episode.
Throughout 2012, Carter made several one-off performances. On January 12, 2012, Carter performed a concert at Showcase Live in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and on January 19, 2012, he performed another concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. On May 11, 2012, he performed an acoustic show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Carter hosted a Ryan Cabrera show on May 30, 2012 in Flemington, New Jersey, and performed at Mixtape Festival on August 17, 2012. In 2013, Carter kicked off his first tour in eight years, the After Party Tour. The tour ran from February to December 2013 and included over 150 shows in the United States and Canada.
2014–present: The Music Never Stopped and LØVË projects
In June 2014, Carter went on an 11-city Canadian tour during which he performed new songs from his upcoming album. Carter also announced that he would be embarking on a worldwide tour entitled the Wonderful World Tour, named for a song titled "Wonderful World" off of his upcoming album. The tour included 50 dates and ran from September 2014 until January 2015. In July, Carter appeared on Good Day LA, where he performed "Ooh Wee", a single featuring Pat SoLo. In February 2015, Carter released an EP through SoundCloud titled The Music Never Stopped.
On January 31, 2016, Carter released his music video for "Curious" under the name Kid Carter, co-directed by MDM Media's Michael D. Monroe, Ben Epstein and Aaron Carter.
In April 2016, Carter released the single "Fool's Gold". Another single, "Sooner or Later", was released in January 2017. Both songs appeared on the EP LØVË, released in February 2017, written by Carter, Jon Asher, Melanie Fontana, Taylor "Lakestreet Louie" Helgeson, and Michel Schulz, produced and independently released by Carter on his new venture Rakkaus Records. An album of the same name was released as his fifth studio album on February 16, 2018.
Personal life
Legal troubles
On February 21, 2008, Carter was arrested in Kimble County, Texas, when he was pulled over for speeding, and authorities found less than two ounces of marijuana in his car.
On July 15, 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana charges. On October 19, 2021, Carter agreed to plea no contest to reckless driving and was placed on probation and, among other conditions, was ordered to perform community service and pay $1,500 in court fees and fines.
On August 12, 2019, Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, Russian model Lina Valentina, after she reportedly threatened to stab him. On March 29, 2020, Carter's girlfriend Melanie Martin was arrested in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic violence incident against him. A few months earlier, Carter had the name 'Melanie' tattooed on his forehead.
Sexuality and relationships
Carter came out as bisexual on August 5, 2017 through Twitter, and later that year on December 18, he made a guest appearance on the podcast LGBTQ&A to discuss both his career and sexuality. He has reaffirmed his bisexuality publicly on at least one other occasion, but has also said that he has only ever had relationships with women. He has dated several high-profile female celebrities, including Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
On September 18, 2006, it was reported that Carter was engaged to former beauty queen and Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche. US Weekly later reported that Carter broke off his engagement to Peniche, saying he was impulsive in proposing to her. The two reunited in 2015.
Finances
On November 22, 2013, Carter filed a bankruptcy petition to shed more than $3.5 million in debt, mostly taxes owed from the money made at the height of his popularity. "This is not a negative thing," Carter's publicist Steve Honig told CNN. "It's actually very positive. It's him doing what he needs to do to move forward." The petition states that Carter's biggest creditor is the U.S. government; "he owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.3 million in back taxes from his income in 2003, when Carter was just 16." Carter settled all of his tax debt in 2014.
In February 2019, Carter purchased a home in Lancaster, California.
Health
In September 2017, Carter appeared on The Doctors, a syndicated health-focused talk show, to discuss public attention generated by his gaunt appearance and drug-related arrests. A thorough series of tests and examinations revealed Carter was not suffering from cancer or any sexually transmitted disease, but he did have a candida infection; which can be a sign of a weakened immune system. Carter tested negative for illegal drugs, but tested positive for "a mixture of benzodiazepines with opiates", a potentially dangerous combination of prescription medications that Carter said he took for anxiety and sleep. He was malnourished and underweight — at - with a body mass index of 17 (a BMI of 18.5 to 25 is normal range). Carter was advised to enter a drug rehabilitation program and remain under medical care.
Carter admitted himself to Alo House, a treatment center in Malibu, California. In February 2018, he reported improvement and that his weight was . In 2019, Carter and his mother, Jane, appeared in the WEtv reality series Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition. The show focuses on attempting to repair strained relationships through unconventional therapy.
Controversies
Carter has had a tumultuous relationship with his siblings, and many of their feuds have played out on social media. In September 2019, Carter made allegations of sexual abuse against his sister Leslie, who died of a drug overdose in 2012, saying that the abuse began when he was 10 and ended when he was 13, and occurred when Leslie would fail to take her prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. He also accused his brother Nick of life-long abuse, and implied that Nick also abused a female family member. Nick's legal team denied the allegations, which came after Nick and their sister, Angel, sought restraining orders against Carter, who reportedly confessed that he had thoughts of killing Nick's then-pregnant wife, Lauren Carter.
In January 2020, German artist Jonas Jödicke tweeted that Carter was making unauthorized use of Jödicke's copyrighted artwork to promote merchandise. Carter did reply. Following the incident, Jödicke was interviewed by Forbes, saying he was "absolutely amazed" at Carter's response. In June 2021, Carter agreed to pay Jödicke $12,500.
In March 2020, Carter set up an OnlyFans account, which is popular in the adult entertainment industry. Carter began charging $50 to $100 per nude photo, or $26 a month. PinkNews stated "the prices are steep and the content is bizarre", while Queerty stated "The reviews of Aaron Carter's OnlyFans page are in and they're not good."
In August 2021, Carter was announced as a performer in the Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing. He was let go before the show's debut because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Boxing career
On June 11, 2021, Carter participated in an exhibition boxing match with former NBA player Lamar Odom. Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Discography
Studio albums
Aaron Carter (1997)
Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
Oh Aaron (2001)
Another Earthquake! (2002)
LØVË (2018)
Tours
Headlining
2000–2001: Party Tour
2002: Aaron's Winter Party
2002: Rock Rap N' Retro Tour
2003–2004: Jukebox Tour
2005: Remix Tour
2013: After Party Tour
2014: Aaron Carter's Wonderful World Tour
Co-headlining
1998: Kids Go Music Festival (with Take 5, No Authority and 911)
1998: Kids Go Christmas Festival (with R&B)
1999: All That! Music and More Festival (with Monica, 98 Degrees, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, 3rd Storee, and No Authority)
2001: Radio Disney Live! 2001 World Tour (with Krystal Harris, Hoku, Baha Men, Myra, True Vibe, Jump5, Brooke Allison, Plus One, Kaci, Play and A-Teens)
2018–2020 Pop 2000 Tour
Opening act
1997: Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
1998: Backstreet's Back Tour (United States, Canada)
2000: Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (England, Germany)
Promotional
1998: Eurasian Tour
2000: Australian Tour
2000: Wal-Mart Promo Tour
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
1987 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
American child singers
American dance musicians
American hip hop singers
American male child actors
American male dancers
American male film actors
American male pop singers
American male rappers
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Bisexual men
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual musicians
LGBT rappers
Child pop musicians
Jive Records artists
LGBT people from Florida
LGBT singers from the United States
Living people
Male actors from Florida
Male actors from Tampa, Florida
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Participants in American reality television series
People from Ruskin, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
OnlyFans creators
| false |
[
"\"Sin Despertar\" is a pop song performed by Chilean band Kudai. It was released as the first single of their debut album Vuelo. This single was also their first single as Kudai, after they gave up their old name band Ciao. This single was very successful in Chile and Argentina and later in the rest of Latin America, including Mexico.\n\nMusic video\nKudai's music video for their first single ever \"Sin Despertar\", was filmed in Santiago, Chile and the location used in this music videos was in O'Higgins Park, Movistar Arena Santiago, the video was premiered on 24 June 2004 on MTV, and this was very successful on Los 10+ Pedidos and Top 20.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nKudai Official Site\nEMI Music Mexico\n\n2004 singles\nKudai songs\n2005 singles\n2006 singles\n2004 songs",
"Rough and Ready Volume 2 is a studio album released by Shabba Ranks. This album was not as successful as Volume 1 and it was going to be difficult to create an album as successful as its predecessor, X-tra Naked, which won a Grammy. Volume 2 was criticised for lacking variety.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n1993 albums\nShabba Ranks albums\nEpic Records albums"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)"
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up
| 1 |
What caused was the band D.O.A.'s first break up?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| false |
[
"Hospital dos Marmeleiros is a hospital in Monte (Funchal), Madeira.\n\nHistory\nOn 23 July 1905, the Paris edition of the New York Herald carried a report headed: \"German Company Plans to Make Madeira an up-to-date Resort\". In return for a promise to build a sanatorium and hospitals and treat 40 tuberculosis patients a year free, the Madeira Aktiengesellschaft, headed by Prince Friedrich Karl Hohenlohe-Öhringen, was in an arrangement with the Portuguese government, that in turn for building these facilities it will take over all business concerns on Madeira. When plans for some of the hospitals were exposed as being designs for hotels and holiday camps, the Madeirans realized that they were being colonized through the back door and promptly withdrew the concession. Just before this the Germans were constructing what is today the Hospital dos Marmeleiros (the only building the Germans began to build), the Germans were given a tax break and did not need to pay tax on anything needed to construct the hospital. The site was left abandoned until 1930 when the Madeirans continued to build the Hospital dos Marmeleiros.\n\nLocals say that the reason that the hospital construction was abandoned by the Germans was not just because of their colonization plans being discovered. It was that during the construction of the hospital the Germans needed special materials not available on Madeira, so it was agreed that Madeirans would take the materials up to the site from the German ship in the harbour. The strongest horses were used to bring up the wooden barrels. The local Madeiran with the strongest horses bringing up the materials was suspicious that what he was taking up the hill was heavier than what should be needed to construct the hospital, so he on purpose let one of the barrels roll down the hill and smash open. It is alleged that it was filled with rifles. When the locals looked inside what was already constructed they found ammunition and more guns. This caused the Madeirans to confiscate all German property in Madeira and stop the construction of the hospital.\n\nOn November 1930, the building was completed and the first patients were transferred there, making it one of the first hospitals in the country. The inauguration of the new facilities took place on August 10, 1940.\n\nReferences\n\nHospitals in Madeira\nHospital buildings completed in 1930",
"Crazy is a R&B love song by duo K-Ci & JoJo. It was released in 2001 and was their first single off the album X. It was also featured on the soundtrack to the hit dance film Save the Last Dance, starring Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas. The song is notable for making prominent use of auto-tune years before it became popular.\n\nLyrical content \nThe official music video shows what \"Crazy\" is about. It is about a lover who ruminates over the poor choices he made that caused his girlfriend to break up with him. The song talks about losing sleep over it and after realizing the pain he has caused his girlfriend, he must choose between her and his life as a criminal. Once he chooses his criminal friends over her, he eventually regrets his decision and wishes to return to her.\n\nCredits \nAdapted from X liner notes.\n Darrell Delite – producer, writer, other instruments, vocoder, mixer\n K-Ci Hailey – writer, vocals\n JoJo Hailey – writer, vocals\n Paul Pesco – guitar\n Zak Sulam – guitar\n Brian Kinkead – recording\n J. Rea – recording\n Ben Arrindell – mixer\n Matt – Pro Tools engineer\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2001 singles\nK-Ci & JoJo songs\n2000 songs\nMCA Records singles\nSongs written by Darrell \"Delite\" Allamby\nTorch songs\nContemporary R&B ballads"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know."
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
What did they accomplish before the first break up?
| 2 |
What did D.O.A accomplish before the first break up?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| false |
[
"The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a timer to break work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for tomato, after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used as a university student. \n\nThe technique has been widely popularized by apps and websites providing timers and instructions. Closely related to concepts such as timeboxing and iterative and incremental development used in software design, the method has been adopted in pair programming contexts.\n\nDescription \n\nThe original technique has six steps:\n Decide on the task to be done.\n Set the pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes). \n Work on the task.\n End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes).\n If you have finished fewer than three pomodoros, go back to Step 2 and repeat until you go through all three pomodoros.\n After three pomodoros are done, take the fourth pomodoro and then take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes). Once the long break is finished, return to step 2.\n\nFor the purposes of the technique, a pomodoro is an interval of work time. \n\nRegular breaks are taken, aiding assimilation. A 10-minute break separates consecutive pomodoros. Four pomodoros form a set. There is a longer 20–30 minute break between sets.\n\nA goal of the technique is to reduce the effect of internal and external interruptions on focus and flow. A pomodoro is indivisible; when interrupted during a pomodoro, either the other activity must be recorded and postponed (using the inform – negotiate – schedule – call back strategy) or the pomodoro must be abandoned.\n\nAfter task completion in a pomodoro, any remaining time should be devoted to activities, for example:\n\n Review your work just completed.\n Review the activities from a learning point of view (ex: What learning objective did you accomplish? What learning outcome did you accomplish? Did you fulfill your learning target, objective, or outcome for the task?)\n Review the list of upcoming tasks for the next planned pomodoro time blocks, and start reflecting on or updating them.\n\nCirillo suggests: \n\nThe stages of planning, tracking, recording, processing and visualizing are fundamental to the technique. In the planning phase, tasks are prioritized by recording them in a \"To Do Today\" list, enabling users to estimate the effort they will require. As pomodoros are completed, they are recorded, adding to a sense of accomplishment and providing raw data for subsequent self-observation and improvement.\n\nTools\n\nThe creator and his proponents encourage a low-tech approach, using a mechanical timer, paper and pencil. The physical act of winding the timer confirms the user's determination to start the task; ticking externalises desire to complete the task; ringing announces a break. Flow and focus become associated with these physical stimuli.\n\nThe technique has inspired application software for several platforms, with various programs available.\n\nSee also\n Incremental reading\n Life hacking\n Procrastination\n\nReferences\n\n Personal development\nTime management",
"The Battle of Bloody Run was fought during Pontiac's War on July 31, 1763 on what now is the site of Elmwood Cemetery in the Eastside Historic Cemetery District of Detroit, Michigan. In an attempt to break Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit, about 250 British troops attempted to make a surprise attack on Pontiac's encampment.\n\nPontiac was ready and waiting, possibly alerted by French settlers, and defeated the British at Parent's Creek east of the fort. However, he did not accomplish the destruction of this British force which would have greatly demoralized the British and dissuaded more British efforts to break the Indian siege of Fort Detroit. The creek, or run, was said to have run red with the blood of the 20 dead and 41 wounded British forces and was henceforth known as Bloody Run. The British forces retreated with all their wounded and all but seven of those killed. The attack's commander, Captain James Dalyell, was one of those killed. After learning of Dalyell's death, General Jeffrey Amherst offered a £200 bounty to anyone who would kill Pontiac.\n\nThe famous frontiersman Robert Rogers was one of the British commanders in this battle.\n\nSee also\n List of battles won by Indigenous peoples of the Americas\n Council Point Park\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Michigan Historical Marker: Battle of Bloody Run\n\n1763 in the British Empire\n1763 in New France\nBloody Run\nConflicts in 1763\nHistory of Detroit\nBattles in Michigan"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
Who rejoined the band?
| 3 |
Who rejoined the band D.O.A.?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992.
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| true |
[
"Timothy Robert Maurer (born October 10, 1980) is an American singer, best known as the former lead singer of third-wave ska band Suburban Legends. He has left the band on two occasions. The first was in 2000 after the recording of Origin Edition. He rejoined the band in early 2002 after his replacement singer Chris Batstone left the band. He officially left the band again in September 2005 after the band's third consecutive appearance on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, performing a new song entitled \"Moving Closer.\" The band's former trumpet player, Vincent Walker, rejoined the band for the performance, then took over as lead singer afterward. Maurer returned for a final performance with the band on November 29, 2005 at Huntington Beach High School for a benefit show for the Ryan Dallas Cook Memorial Fund, which was set up following the death of Suburban Legends' trombonist Dallas Cook.\n\nMaurer has one son and he is the brother of Chris Maurer, who played bass in the band before his departure. In 2009, Maurer performed in a Britpop tribute group called PopBritannica, along with past members of Save Ferris. Maurer appeared with ska group Starpool at DiPiazza's in Long Beach on May 28, 2010, performing guest lead vocals on covers of The Specials' \"Nite Klub\" and \"Little Bitch.\"\n\nReferences \n\n1980 births\nLiving people\nAmerican ska singers\nAmerican punk rock singers\nSuburban Legends members\n21st-century American singers\n21st-century American male singers",
"Jan Lindh is a Swedish musician, drummer of doom metal band Candlemass. He has left and rejoined Candlemass three times: he joined the band in 1987 and stayed with them until their first breakup in 1994, then briefly rejoined in 2002 and again in 2004.\n\nReferences \n\nLiving people\nSwedish heavy metal drummers\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nCandlemass (band) members"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know.",
"Who rejoined the band?",
"Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992."
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
What were they popular for?
| 4 |
What were D.O.A. popular for?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
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basic punk sound.
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| true |
[
"Spontaneous Combustion was an American music group founded in 1986. They performed what they called \"bluerock\", a bluegrass/rock music fusion. The band consisted of Roger Eilts (guitar, vocals), Leo Eilts (bass, vocals), Scott Prowell (mandolin, banjo, dobro, vocals) and Marvin Gruenbaum (violin, vocals). They often were billed as The Spontaneous Combustion Bluegrass Band or when they performed with former members of Total Strangers as Spontaneous Combustion/Total Strangers. They were a popular act at the Santa Fe Trails Bluegrass Festival and the Walnut Valley Festival.\n\nDiscography and songs\nTheir albums included BlueRock, Spontane, Where There's Smoke, Live Embers and Strike Anywhere. Their bluegrass covers of songs like \"I Heard It Through the Grapevine\", \"I Can See For Miles\" and the theme song for \"Secret Agent Man\" are still popular on college radio stations in the American South (for example Nashville Public Radio 7 Mar 2009).\n\nReferences\n\n Walnut Valley Festival performances in years past\n Spontaneous Combustion: History of the Band\n \n \n \n \n\nAmerican rock music groups\nAmerican bluegrass music groups\nMusical groups established in 1986",
"Daniel Mach (born December 5, 1955 in Perpignan — Perpinyà) was a member of the National Assembly of France. He represented the Pyrénées-Orientales's 1st constituency from 2002 to 2012 as a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He is the first politician to have spoken in Catalan in the National Assembly, saying:\n'Senyora, els catalans són gent orgullosa, honesta i pacífica. La seva llengua és un dret i saben quins són els seus deures.'\n\"The catalans are a proud, honest and peaceful people. Their language is a right and they know what their responsibilities are.\"\n\nReferences\n\n1955 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Perpignan\nUnion for French Democracy politicians\nUnion for a Popular Movement politicians\nThe Popular Right\nDeputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic\nDeputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know.",
"Who rejoined the band?",
"Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992.",
"What were they popular for?",
"basic punk sound."
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
Who played drums?
| 5 |
Who played drums in the band D.O.A?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
Ken Jensen
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| true |
[
"Phil Jones (born June 6, 1948) is an American drummer, percussionist, and record producer. Jones played percussion with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in the early 80's both live and in the studio, while also playing drums and percussion on Tom Petty’s solo album Full Moon Fever, which included the hit songs \"Free Fallin'\", \"I Won't Back Down\", and \"Runnin' Down a Dream\". His work outside the group includes playing on the Del Shannon albums; Drop Down and Get Me and Rock On!. He currently runs his own recording studio in Los Angeles called 'Robust Recordings'.\n\nEarly years\nJones was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He received no formal drum lessons but showed a keen interest in music during school, citing Al Jackson Jr. and Keith Moon as his favourite drummers. The first song he learned to play was Walk, Don't Run, which was written by Johnny Smith and later made famous by The Ventures. Later, he eventually moved to L.A and joined a blues style band with the harmonica player Lee Oskar. In 1969, Jones went on to jamming with some members of the rock band 'Stonehenge' which included John Weider of The Animals on guitar. Weider left Stonehenge and joined the English Rock group Family, leaving Jones and the remaining members to morph into Crabby Appleton with Guitarist and lead vocalist Michael Fennelly. They went on to gain a Top 40 single entitled: 'Go Back' in 1970.\n\nThe band went on to open for other well established acts including ABBA, The Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, The Guess Who and Jethro Tull, but the second album in 1971 failed to achieve commercial success and they disbanded. Fennelly then moved to England to start a solo career, with Jones staying in L.A.\n\nTom Petty & The Heartbreakers\nFrom 1980 until 1984, Jones provided percussion for the band, both during tours and recording in the studio on the albums Hard Promises and Long After Dark. He was introduced to the band by the tour manager Richard Fernandez, who also happened to be Jones' drum tech in Crabby Appleton during the early years. Jones stated in the Drumhead interview that he believed he was hired due to a 'conflict with the band - a groove controversy' and that his role was to help 'smooth things out between different people.'. Later in 1988, while Jones was visiting Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell at his home studio for jamming sessions, Tom Petty called Campbell and asked if he could come over to record a song that he and Jeff Lynne had written called Free Fallin'. It was the first track recorded for the album, which also included George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Del Shannon among others providing contributions. Jones went on to play drums and percussion throughout the album which eventually became Full Moon Fever. Later in 1992, Jones again played on Petty's next album Wildflowers.\n\nOther work \n Jones went on to play with various others, including the rock band Cracker who had a #1 in the U.S. Modern Rock chart with Teen Angst. He has also performed with many other notable musicians on live tours, including Joe Walsh, as well as The Black Crowes' former lead guitarist Marc Ford in The Neptune Blues Club. Jones played on Roy Orbison's 1988 album Mystery Girl on the single You Got It which was also recorded in Mike Campbell's garage studio in L.A. His percussion also features on the theme tune from Friends entitled I'll Be There for You by The Rembrandts. Later, Jones also toured extensively with Neil Young's former wife; Pegi Young, under the band name \"The Survivors\", along with fellow bandmates Spooner Oldham, Kelvin Holly and Shonna Tucker.\n\nCollaborations \nWith Crabby Appleton\n Played drums on Crabby Appleton (Elektra Records, 1970)\n Played drums on Rotten to the Core! (Elektra Records, 1971)\n\nWith Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers\n Played Percussion on Hard Promises (Backstreet, 1980)\n Played Percussion on Long After Dark (Backstreet, 1982)\n Played Percussion on Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (MCA, 1985)\n Played Percussion on The Live Anthology (Reprise, 2009)\n\nWith Tom Petty\n Played Drums & Percussion on Full Moon Fever (MCA, 1989)\n Played Percussion on Wildflowers (MCA, 1994)\n\nWith Del Shannon\n Played Percussion on Drop Down and Get Me (Elektra, 1981)\n Played Drums, Percussion and Backing Vocals on Rock On! (MCA, 1991)\n\nWith Bob Dylan\n Played Congas on Knocked Out Loaded (Columbia Records, 1986)\n\nWith Randy Newman\n Played Drums and Percussion on Land of Dreams (Reprise Records, 1988) for the track \"Falling In Love\"\n\nWith Roy Orbison\n Played Drums and Percussion on Mystery Girl (Virgin Records, 1989) for the track \"You Got It\"\n\nWith The Sidewinders (Later the Sand Rubies)\n Played Percussion on Sand Rubies (album) (Polydor Records/Atlas Records, 1991)\n\nWith Cracker (band)\n Played Drums and Percussion on Cracker (album) (Virgin Records, 1992)\n Played Percussion on Kerosene Hat (Virgin Records, 1998)\n\nWith 54-40\n Played Percussion on Dear Dear (Columbia, 1992)\n\nWith Julianna Raye\n Played Drums and Percussion on Something Peculiar (Reprise, 1992)\n\nWith Peter Himmelman\n Played Percussion on Flown This Acid World (Epic Records, 1992)\n\nWith Christine Lakeland\n Played Drums on Reckoning (Lady Finger Records, 1993)\n\nWith Stuttering John\n Played Drums and Percussion on Stuttering John (album) (One Way Records, 1994)\n\nWith The Rembrandts\n Played Percussion on L.P (One Way Records, 1995)\n\nWith The Rolling Stones\n Played Percussion on Voodoo Lounge (Virgin, 1994)\n\nWith Jackopierce\n Played Percussion on Finest Hour (A&M Records, 1995)\n\nWith Cravin' Melon\n Played Percussion on Cravin' Melon (EP) (Seedless Records, 1995)\n\nWith Michael Angeloff\n Played Drums, Bass and Percussion on Here And Now.... Is Forever (Park Hill Music Company, 2000)\n\nWith Terry Reid\n Played Drums on Alive (Castle Music, 2004)\n\nWith Johnny Rivers\n Played Drums on Reinvention Highway (Shout! Factory, 2004)\n\nWith Bernard Fowler\n Played Drums on Friends With Privileges (Sony, 2006)\n\nWith Jack Tempchin\n Played Drums and Percussion on Songs (Night River Records, 2007)\n\nWith Jason Sinay and APE\n Played Drums and Percussion on E.P (Apus Maximus Ltd, 2009)\n Played Drums and Percussion on Ape and the Wall of Questions (Apus Maximus Ltd, 2010)\n\nWith Pegi Young\n Played Drums and Percussion on Foul Deeds (Vapour Records, 2010)\n (With The Survivors) Played Drums and Percussion on Bracing for Impact (Vapour Records, 2011)\n (With The Survivors) Played Drums and Percussion on Lonely In A Crowded Room (Vapour Records, 2014)\n (With The Survivors) Played Drums and Percussion on RAW (Vapour Records, 2016)\n\nWith Jim Wilson with Phil Jones\n Played Drums and Percussion on Now Playing (The Swinging Pipe Records, 2018)\n\nSolo albums\n 2012 ONE\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican drummers\n1948 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Oskaloosa, Iowa",
"Sami Kuoppamäki (born 1971) is a Finnish drummer who has been a very prolific jazz and popular music session musician after the break-up of his early-90s band, Kingston Wall. His current, most active group in which he plays in is called Zook. The band also includes ex-Kingston Wall bassist Jukka Jylli.\n\nSession work \n\nIn 1994 Kuoppamäki played session drums as a stand-in for the popular power metal band Stratovarius, for the recording of their third studio album, Dreamspace (his contribution can be heard on five of the album's songs). This was due to regular drummer Tuomo Lassila suffering from an arm injury.\n\nIn 2000–2001 Kuoppamäki played drums in the house band of the Finnish TV show Hotelli Sointu.\n\nIn 2003 he played session drums for Apocalyptica for the album Reflections, although the major credits for the drum recordings are given to Slayer's Dave Lombardo. After his participation, Apocalyptica hired Mikko Sirén as permanent drum player.\n\nIn 2006 he played drums for Von Hertzen Brothers for their second album Approach.\n\nIn 2007 & 2011 he played drums in the live band of the Finnish Idols TV show's finals.\n\nLive work\nKuoppamäki performed with accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen to rave reviews at the \"Meltdown on the South Bank\" festival in London in 2005.\n\nDiscography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nFinnish drummers\nLiving people\n1971 births\n21st-century drummers"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know.",
"Who rejoined the band?",
"Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992.",
"What were they popular for?",
"basic punk sound.",
"Who played drums?",
"Ken Jensen"
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
Who played bass?
| 6 |
Who played bass in the band D.O.A?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
Randy Rampage
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| true |
[
"Tony Hibbert (born 6 December 1956) is an English musician who played bass guitar in the synthpop band, New Musik, from 1977 to 1981. He was born in Tooting, London.\n\nHe played with New Musik on From A to B (1980) and Anywhere (1981), but later retired from the music industry. After his leaving, there was not a bass guitar used on the New Musik's third and final album, Warp.\n\nIn 1980, he played on Bruce Cockburn's album, Humans.\n\nHe is now a cycling coach at Herne Hill Velodrome.\n\nReferences\n\n1956 births\nLiving people\nEnglish bass guitarists\nEnglish male guitarists\nMale bass guitarists\nPeople from Tooting\nMusicians from London\nBritish synth-pop new wave musicians",
"Prescott Niles (born May 2, 1954) is an American rock bassist. He is best known as bassist with the Knack, who had a No. 1 US / No. 6 UK hit with \"My Sharona\".\n\nSince 2013 he has played bass with Mike Pinera's Classic Rock All-Stars and Missing Persons.\n\nPrescott Niles mostly played a Rickenbacker 4001 and a Guild bass during his tenure with The Knack.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nPrescott Niles NAMM Oral History Interview (2007)\n\n1954 births\nLiving people\nAmerican rock bass guitarists\nAmerican male bass guitarists\nAmerican new wave musicians\nThe Knack members\n20th-century American guitarists"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know.",
"Who rejoined the band?",
"Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992.",
"What were they popular for?",
"basic punk sound.",
"Who played drums?",
"Ken Jensen",
"Who played bass?",
"Randy Rampage"
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
Did Randy Rampage stick with them or leave?
| 7 |
Did Randy Rampage stick with D.O.A. or leave?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
the reunion did not last,
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| true |
[
"Randall Desmond Archibald (February 21, 1960 – August 14, 2018), better known by stage name Randy Rampage, was a Canadian musician and founding member, bass player and vocalist of the Canadian hardcore band D.O.A., along with Joe Keithley and Chuck Biscuits. They are often referred to as the \"founders\" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, the Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore. Hardcore 81 included a fourth member of the lineup Dave Gregg.\n\nHe was also the lead singer of the thrash metal band Annihilator in 1988–1989 and again from 1998 to 2000.\n\nMusical career\nHe played on D.O.A.'s seminal early punk albums Something Better Change and Hardcore '81, along with vocalist/guitarist Joey Shithead, drummer Chuck Biscuits and guitarist Dave Gregg in Hardcore '81. Rampage left D.O.A. in 1981 but returned in the year 2000 after a nearly two-decade absence. He played on their 2002 Win the Battle album but then left the band again. He rejoined D.O.A. in 2007, remained in the lineup through 2008 and was featured on their album, Northern Avenger, produced by Bob Rock. On the eve of the Northern Avenger tour, it was announced that Rampage was leaving D.O.A. once again.\n\nRampage was the vocalist for the Canadian speed metal/thrash metal band Annihilator. He first joined the band in 1988, appearing on their debut album Alice in Hell (1989), and left after its accompanying tour. Around 1998, Rampage returned to Annihilator and recorded another album with them Criteria for a Black Widow (1999), after which he left once again to rejoin D.O.A.\n\nRampage recorded a self-titled EP in 1982, Randy Rampage. It featured musicians also known as the Sick Ones, Chuck Biscuits, Brad Kent, Zippy Pinhead, and Benny Doro.\n\nRandy was a key figure in Susanne Tabata's documentary film Bloodied But UnBowed, a historical look at the birth of the Vancouver punk rock scene and the development of hardcore punk on the West coast of North America during the 1978–1983 timeframe. He appears in this film along with Art Bergmann, Jello Biafra, Joe Keithley, Duff McKagan, Henry Rollins, Ron Reyes (ex-Black Flag), Penelope Houston, Ginger Coyote, Buck Cherry (John Armstrong), Gerry Hannah, Jim Cummins AKA I, Braineater, Zippy Pinhead, Brad Kent, Keith Morris, Greg Hetson and many others. Bands featured include D.O.A., Subhumans (Canadian band), Pointed Sticks, Young Canadians, The Dishrags, The Modernettes, among others.\n\nRandy Rampage had many other projects, including Rampage, Stress Factor 9, Fake It Big Time, Ground Zero, Iron Gypsy, Requiem, Riff Raff, and The 45s.\n\nAs the frontman of metal band Stress Factor 9 along with Annihilator drummer Ray Hartmann, guitarist Francis Frightful of Singapore band Opposition Party, guitarist Kick of Vertical After, and bass player Duane Chaos of 22nd Century.\n\nRampage's last project was Rampage, a band that included Duane Chaos, The Great Baldini, Brent Johnson, Tim Bitz, Pinto Stiletto, and their LP project was recorded by John Webster. Unreleased at the time of his death.\n\nRampage died on August 14, 2018.\n\nDiscography\nD.O.A.\n Something Better Change (1980)\n Hardcore '81 (1981)\n Win the Battle (2002)\n Northern Avenger (2008)\n\nAnnihilator\n Alice in Hell (1989)\n Bag of Tricks (1994)\n In Command (1996)\n Criteria for a Black Widow (1999)\n Total Annihilation (2010)\n\nStress Factor 9\n Brainwarp Mindspin (2006)\n\nRandy Rampage\n Randy Rampage EP (1982)\n\nDeath\nRampage died on August 14, 2018 at his home in Vancouver from an apparent heart attack, aged 58.\n\nRandy Rampage aka Randall Desmond Archibald is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver BC. A monument to his name is under construction.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Stress Factor 9\n Bloodied But Unbowed\n\n1960 births\n2018 deaths\nCanadian heavy metal singers\nCanadian punk rock bass guitarists\nAnnihilator (band) members\nD.O.A. (band) members\nMusicians from Vancouver",
"Bradley Grant Kent (died February 3, 2016) was a Canadian musician who played guitar with many of the early Vancouver punk rock bands, particularly Victorian Pork, the band which spawned D.O.A., Pointed Sticks and the Subhumans. Later he went to San Francisco to play guitar for the Avengers with Penelope Houston.\n\nIn 1977, Kent was a member of Vancouver punk band, The Skulls, which also featured singer Joey Shithead, bassist Wimpy Roy, drummer Dimwit, and guitarist Simon Werner. The Skulls moved to Toronto, with eventual plans to relocate to London, England, but Kent stayed behind and formed Victorian Pork, which became a proving ground for several future Vancouver punk scene stalwarts, including Ian Tiles, Tony Bardach, Gerry Useless, Randy Rampage and Chuck Biscuits. When the Skulls broke up and hobbled back to Vancouver, Joey Shithead formed DOA with Victorian Pork drummer Chuck Biscuits (Dimwit's younger brother) and former Victorian Pork drummer, Randy Rampage, who moved to bass. Meanwhile, Dimwit and Wimpy formed the Subhumans with Brad Kent on guitar (this original version was a trio, Wimpy played bass and sang). Later, the more recognized line-up was formed with former Victorian Pork bassist Gerry Hannah AKA Gerry Useless and guitarist Mike Graham AKA Mike Normal. Mike and Gerry were in the Stiffs with Zippy Pinhead & Sid Sick.\n\nWhen the Stiffs broke up Zippy & Sid formed Rabid. A little while later, Brad Kent would join DOA, expanding them to a four-piece, right after the release of DOA's Disco Sucks EP. You can see this Brad Kent version of DOA on the DOA DVD compilation Greatest Shits, which shows DOA & Kent blazing through a version of Disco Sucks on the back of a flatbed truck in Stanley Park at an anarchist/punk \"festival\" in 1978. This is the version of DOA that toured down to San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens on 2 separate trips, impressing the scene down there and making lifelong fans out of the Dils, Dead Kennedys and the Avengers. After getting kicked out of DOA, Brad Kent formed the Wasted Lives, with singer Phil Smith, guitarist Colin Griffiths, drummer Andy Graffiti, and future Modernettes bassist Mary Armstrong. He then got the invitation to join The Avengers and moved down to San Francisco. Then the Avengers broke up, and he formed the 45s with Controllers drummer Carla du Plantier AKA Mad Dog, singer Heather Haley of the Zellots, and Randy Rampage who was on hiatus from D.O.A. But Rampage rejoined D.O.A., and Kent entered a period of relative inactivity. Around 1982 when Rampage left D.O.A. again, the two of them collaborated on Randy Rampage's solo 12-inch EP. All through this period Kent & Rampage gigged as The Sick Ones, with various guest vocalists. Around about 1986 they got more serious and embraced their heavy metal inner selves, forming Ground Zero. Randy left shortly afterwards to play bass for Iron Gypsy, one of the new buzz bands on the scene, with vocalist/guitarist James Mark (AKA \"Wickley\"), and Death Sentence drummer Doug \"Donut\" Prouxl, while Brad continued on with Ground Zero. Randy later went on to sing briefly for Annihilator, while Brad joined Death Sentence after their first EP came out, but did not appear on it.\nDuring the late 1990s, Brad Kent reformed Victorian Pork in Vancouver for a brief time. He rejoined with Wasted Lives, Modernettes Bassist Mary Jo Kopechne aka Mary Armstrong, Mary Celeste, Mary Cherry, to form the band Monster Baby in Edmonton Alberta. He contracted H1N1 During this time as he did not believe in the flu shots and Mary brought it home from work after an outbreak at her place of employment with Alberta Health Services. He died at the University of Alberta Hospital intensive care unit after a fight with H1N1 for a term of life support for 10 days. H1N1 filled his lungs with fluid, elevated his liver enzymes, compromised his kidneys and put him on dialysis, and finally killed his stomach so he could no longer consume nutrition. It was decided by the college that his stomach was not able to be reconstituted and his 10 day event on life support was ended on February 3, 2016. Bradley Grant Kent was taken off life support and succumbed to the H1N1 virus after 45 seconds of the life support system being removed. He died with Mary Armstrong, his daughter and sister by his side.\n\nReferences\n\nCanadian punk rock guitarists\n2016 deaths\nAvengers (band) members\nThe Skulls (Canadian band) members\n1958 births"
] |
[
"D.O.A. (band)",
"First breakup and reunion (1990-2002)",
"What caused was the D.O.A.'s first break up",
"I don't know.",
"What did they accomplish before the first break up?",
"I don't know.",
"Who rejoined the band?",
"Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992.",
"What were they popular for?",
"basic punk sound.",
"Who played drums?",
"Ken Jensen",
"Who played bass?",
"Randy Rampage",
"Did Randy Rampage stick with them or leave?",
"the reunion did not last,"
] |
C_d7fc5b363aea4cef987d3bb337412a40_0
|
Did the band end on a good note?
| 8 |
Did the band D.O.A.end on a good note?
|
D.O.A. (band)
|
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash-metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career. 19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals. Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output. The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko. The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley is the only founding member to have stayed in the band throughout its entire history, with original bassist Randy Rampage returning to the band twice after his original departure. D.O.A. has often released music on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records, and they have released an album with Biafra on vocals titled Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors.
D.O.A. is known for its outspoken political opinions and has a history of performing for many causes and benefits. Its slogan is "Talk Minus Action Equals Zero." The band's lyrics and imagery frequently advocate anti-racism, anti-globalization, freedom of speech, and environmentalism.
Founder Joe Keithley is also the founder of Sudden Death Records which has released music by D.O.A. and several other bands including Pointed Sticks and Young Canadians.
History
Formation and early years (1977–1980)
D.O.A. has its origins in The Skulls, an early Vancouver-area punk rock band that included future D.O.A. members Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Brian "Wimpy Roy" Goble, and Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery.
When the Skulls broke up after an ill-fated move to Toronto, Keithley moved back to Vancouver and formed D.O.A. in early 1978 with himself on guitar, Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits on drums, Randy Rampage on bass, and a lead singer known only as "Harry Homo", who suggested the band's name. The band's first gig took place at the Japanese Hall in Vancouver on February 20 of that year, after which Harry Homo was sacked for an apparent lack of rhythm; Keithley then became the band's singer. A second guitarist named "Randy Romance" played briefly with the band in March 1978 before leaving.
The band began playing frequently around Vancouver and added guitarist Brad Kent the following June. That summer, they recorded and self-released their first single, the four-song EP Disco Sucks. The single soon topped the charts of the University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which prompted the band to begin touring down to San Francisco. They played their first shows there in August 1978 at Mabuhay Gardens. It was during this trip that the band first met Dead Kennedys frontman and future collaborator Jello Biafra. Kent was fired from the band in September and later that fall the band recorded and released their second single "The Prisoner".
In May 1979, the band embarked on their first North American tour. Upon its completion they hired Vancouver journalist and activist Ken Lester as their manager. Lester booked another tour for them the following October, in the middle of which they flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash at the Pacific Coliseum. They soon after released their third single, "World War 3" / "Whatcha Gonna Do?". In late 1979, they added second guitarist, Dave Gregg. Soon after, Biscuits and Rampage left the band after a disastrous gig at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building and were replaced by Andy Graffiti and Simon "Stubby Pecker" Wilde on drums and bass, respectively. Keithley soon became dissatisfied with the band's performances with the new lineup, however, and Biscuits and Rampage both rejoined the band in March 1980.
D.O.A. released their full-length debut Something Better Change on Friends Records in 1980 and continued touring the United States and Canada extensively.
Hardcore 81 and further lineup changes (1981–1989)
On April 22, 1981 the band released their second album Hardcore '81; the record's title and its extensive North American promotional tour is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "hardcore punk".
Randy Rampage was fired from the band on January 1, 1982 and was replaced by ex-Skulls drummer Dimwit on bass. After a short tour of California, Chuck Biscuits left the band and joined Black Flag. Dimwit switched back to drums and Subhumans singer Wimpy Roy, another ex-Skulls member, was hired as the new bass player and second singer, leaving Keithley as the last remaining original member. This lineup would last from 1982–1983 and later 1985-1986 and produced several notable releases, including the EP War on 45 (now expanded into a full-length album). War on 45 found the band expanding their sound with touches of funk and reggae, as well as making their anti-war and anti-imperialist political stance more clear.
1985's Let's Wreck The Party and 1987's True (North) Strong And Free saw the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus. Meanwhile, the band's lineup changes continued after Let's Wreck the Party, with Dimwit replaced by Kerr Belliveau. Belliveau stayed only three weeks with the band but recorded the Expo Hurts Everyone 7" as well as two songs for True (North) Strong and Free before being replaced by Jon Card from Personality Crisis. Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement.
First breakup and reunion (1990–2002)
1990's Murder featured rawer, almost thrash metal production, rather than their original basic punk sound. The same year also produced a collaboration with Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra with Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. In August 1990, Joey decided he was breaking up D.O.A. but, at the suggestion of promoter Dirk Dirksen, they did a farewell tour of the West Coast, playing their "final" show on December 1, 1990 at the Commodore in Vancouver. In 1991, they released a posthumous live album entitled Talk Minus Action = 0 while Keithley pursued an acting career.
19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Joey Shithead and Wimpy Roy had reunited as D.O.A in the summer of 1992. Fellow Canadian punk rock veteran John Wright from NoMeansNo suggested they hire Ken Jensen from Red Tide as the new drummer, which they did. The new lineup released an EP and two albums in the early 1990s, 13 Flavours Of Doom and Loggerheads. These albums found the band replacing the more hard-rock oriented sound of the 1980s with a return to punk rock, although it was a heavier, tighter brand of punk than their earlier work. These albums were produced by Wright, who also played keyboards on the recordings. The band then added Ford Pier on guitar and vocals.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire. The "Ken Jensen Memorial Single" EP was released on Alternative Tentacles, including two tracks each from D.O.A. and Red Tide. With John Wright filling in on drums, ninth full-length The Black Spot was recorded. The album featured a more basic, sing-along type punk rock sound that was reminiscent of the band's late 1970s and early 1980s output.
The late 1990s found the band's lineup in turmoil, with Wimpy Roy leaving the band after a decade and a half of service and Kuba joining to play bass from 1997 until 2001. Keithley experimented with different bassists and drummers and released the album Festival Of Atheists in 1998. By the early 2000s, the band had found a permanent drummer in the form of The Great Baldini. In 2002, Keithley put out his first solo album, Beat Trash, and original bassist Randy Rampage returned to the band after nearly 20 years for the Win The Battle album. However, the reunion did not last, with Rampage leaving the band again after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Dan Yaremko.
The Lost Tapes was the first release on Keithley's revived Sudden Death label, followed by Festival Of Atheists. During this period, Keithley also oversaw the re-release of the band's classic early records on Sudden Death, several of which had been out of print for many years.
Later years and second hiatus (2003–2013)
In 2003, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared December 21 to be "D.O.A. Day" in honour of the band's 25th anniversary. In the same year, the band released a career-spanning retrospective entitled War And Peace. 2004 found the band releasing the ska-flavoured Live Free or Die. In 2006, Randy Rampage rejoined D.O.A. for his 3rd stint in the band.
The lineup remained stable until 2008, when The Great Baldini left the band to be replaced by new drummer James Hayden. Also in 2008, it was announced that Bob Rock, of Metallica fame would be producing the band's next album in time for their 30th anniversary. James Hayden quit before D.O.A. started to record to be replaced by Floor Tom Jones In September 2008, D.O.A. released Northern Avenger and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. On the eve of the tour, it was announced that Randy Rampage was being replaced by Dan Yaremko once again.
D.O.A. played several dates in the summer of 2009 as part of the Van's Warped Tour 2009.
On May 1, 2010, D.O.A. released their fourteenth full-length album Talk Minus Action = Zero (a similarly titled live album Talk Minus Action Equals Zero had previously been released in 1990). Drummer Jesse Pinner (of the band Raised by Apes) took the place of Floor Tom Jones beginning on D.O.A.'s subsequent August 2010 tour due to Floor Tom Jones' commitments to his job at Canada Post.
In 2012, Joe announced that he would be seeking nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. As a result, D.O.A. announced an indefinite hiatus, and began their farewell tour on January 18, 2013 in celebration of the band's thirty-five year anniversary.
Second reunion and recent activity (2014–present)
On September 22, 2014, Keithley officially announced on the Sudden Death Records website that he had decided to reform the band with Paddy Duddy on drums and Mike "Maggot" Hodsall on bass, and would be embarking on a Canadian tour in October in support of the recently released live album, Welcome To Chinatown. This lineup recorded and released the studio album Hard Rain Falling in 2015. In April 2016, the band released a new version of "Fucked Up Ronnie" entitled "Fucked Up Donald" (referring to the 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump) as a single.
Members
Current lineup
Joe Keithley – vocals, guitar (1978–present), bass (1996–1998)
Mike Hodsall – bass (2014–present)
Paddy Duddy – drums (2014–present)
Former members
Harry Homo - lead vocals (1978)
Brad Kent - guitar (1978)
Randy Romance - guitar (1978)
Zippy Pinhead - drums (1979; died 2019)
Simon Wilde - bass (1979-1980; died 1994)
Andy Graffiti - drums (1979-1980)
Randy Rampage – bass (1978–1982, 2000–2002, 2006–2009; died 2018)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (1978–1982)
Dave Gregg – guitar (1979–1988; died 2014)
Brian Roy Goble – bass (1982–1996; died 2014)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery – bass (1982), drums (1982–1983, 1984-1986; died 1994)
Gregg "Ned Peckerwood" James - drums (1983-1984)
Kerr Belliveau - drums (1986)
Jon Card – drums (1986–1990)
Chris Prohom – guitar (1988–1990)
Ken Jensen – drums (1992–1995; died 1995)
Jon Wright – keyboards (1992–1995), drums (1995–1996)
Ford Pier – guitar (1994–1996)
Wycliffe - bass (1997)
Kuba van der Pol - bass (1998-2000, 2002-2003)
Brien O’Brien – drums (1997–1999)
The Great Baldini – drums (2000–2008)
Dan Yaremko – bass (2003–2006, 2009–2013)
Floor Tom Jones – drums (2008–2010)
Jesse Pinner – drums (2010–2013)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Something Better Change (1980)
Hardcore '81 (1981)
Let's Wreck The Party (1985)
True (North) Strong And Free (1987)
Murder (1990)
13 Flavours of Doom (1992)
Loggerheads (1993)
The Black Spot (1995)
Festival Of Atheists (1998)
Win the Battle (2002)
Live Free Or Die (2004)
Northern Avenger (2008)
Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009)
Talk-Action=0 (2010)
We Come In Peace (2012)
Hard Rain Falling (2015)
Fight Back (2018)
Treason (2020)
Live albums
Talk Minus Action Equals Zero (1991)
Welcome to Chinatown (2013)
EPs
Positively (1981)
War on 45 (1982)
D.O.A. & Thor - Are U Ready (2003)
Collaborations
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors (With Jello Biafra) (1990)
Solo albums
Beat Trash (2002) - Solo Project from Joey "Shithead" Keithley
References
External links
The official D.O.A. myspace
CanadianBands.com entry
Sudden Death records
Interview with Joey Shithead
Snot Rag interview with Dimwit (1979)
Robert Christgau's review of five D.O.A. albums
Scanner zine interview with Joey Shithead
Late Night Wallflower interview with Joey Shithead (2007)
Toronto Music Scene Interview with Joey Shithead
The Ruckus - Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups disestablished in 2013
Musical groups reestablished in 2014
Canadian hardcore punk groups
Canadian activists
Musical groups from Vancouver
Alternative Tentacles artists
1978 establishments in British Columbia
Political music groups
| false |
[
"\"Wanted Man\" is the first track on American heavy metal band Ratt's album Out of the Cellar. It was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1985 film Weird Science. The song was composed by Robbin Crosby, Stephen Pearcy, and Joey Cristofanilli (who was briefly filling in for full-time Ratt bassist Juan Croucier), and it was the second biggest hit on the album (note: \"Back for More\" did not qualify for a chart position since it was not an actual single release), reaching number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 38 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.\n\nMusic video \nThe music video for the song is based on a wild west theme. In the video, the band members are a group of wanted men also known as \"The Ratt Gang,\" the name being taken from a line in the song. The band members end up getting into a gun fight with another gang of cowboys who were also up to no good.\n\nTrack listing \n\"Wanted Man\" - 3:37\n\"She Wants Money\" - 3:04\n\nPersonnel \nStephen Pearcy- Vocals\nWarren DeMartini- co-lead guitar\nRobbin Crosby- co-lead guitar\nJuan Croucier- Bass guitar\nBobby Blotzer- Drums\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n1984 singles\nRatt songs\nSong recordings produced by Beau Hill\nSongs written by Stephen Pearcy\nSongs written by Robbin Crosby\nSongs written by Joey Cristofanilli\n1984 songs\nAtlantic Records singles",
"\"Summer Moved On\" is a song by Norwegian band a-ha that was released as the group's first single in more than six years. The lead single from their sixth studio album, Minor Earth Major Sky (2000), the song was released in Europe on 25 March 2000 and was given a UK release on 22 May 2000. The song was originally hastily written after a-ha agreed to a one-time reunion at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998.\n\nThe song became a number-one radio hit in much of Europe, including topping the chart in the band's native Norway, and the band has continued to record and perform together to significant international success, though that success has not extended to the United States, where their recent work has gone unreleased. The song sold 2,500,000 copies worldwide.\n\nIt was this song in which Morten Harket achieved the European record for the longest note held in a top 40 pop song; Harket sustains a chest voice note for 20.2 seconds (eight measures).\n\nCritical reception\nThe song received positive reviews from music critics. Evening Herald described it as a \"soaring and powerful ballad\". Sylvia Patterson from NME wrote, \"And now they're back! Swoon! And they're still REALLY GOOD, if not quite The Revolution. Demolition string-quaver quiver-pop-a-ruddy-kimbo as Morten trills 'staaaaay!!!' and a thousand moonbeams dart from black skies of nu-pop baloney on a clifftop everglade under a wind-machine in Rio like 'NSync and all the rest of it never happened. Or, if you like, it's a bit James Bond, 'cos they did the James Bond theme tune once, they were that good. Sigh.\"\n\nTrack listings\n\nCD: WEA./8573 82331-2 Europe\n \"Summer Moved On\" (album edit) – 4:36\n \"Barely Hanging On\" (album version) – 3:51\n It states that it features the \"album version\" of \"Barely Hanging On\", but this song has actually been remixed for the album.\n\nCD: WEA./3984 29692-2 Europe\n \"Summer Moved On\" (radio edit) – 4:06\n \"Summer Moved On\" (album edit) – 4:36\n \"Barely Hanging On\" – 3:51\n \"Summer Moved On\" (remix) – 6:00\n It states that it features the \"album version\" of \"Barely Hanging On\", but this song has actually been remixed for the album.\n\nCD: WEA./CDWP009 Promo Brazil\n \"Summer Moved On\" (radio version) – 4:06\n \"Summer Moved On\" (album version) – 4:36\n \"Summer Moved On\" (remix) – 6:00\n \"Summer Moved On\" (remix edit)\n\nCD: We Love Music./0602527682198 Germany\n \"Summer Moved On\" (live) – 4:58\n \"Scoundrel Days\" (live) – 4:20\n Both tracks taken From the live DVD \"Ending on a High Note – The Final Concert\"\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2000 singles\n2000 songs\nA-ha songs\nNumber-one singles in Norway\nSongs written by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy\nWarner Music Group singles"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit"
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
|
What happened in 1960?
| 1 |
What happened to Joan Rivers in 1960?
|
Joan Rivers
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish activists
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Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
New York (state) Republicans
Participants in American reality television series
People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
| true |
[
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,"
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
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Did he performed alone?
| 2 |
Did Joan Rivers perform alone?
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Joan Rivers
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan".
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
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Jewish American comedy writers
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[
"The Jerudong Park Amphitheater is an amphitheater at Jerudong Park in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.\n\nHistory \nThe amphitheater was built for a free Michael Jackson concert for the Sultan Of Brunei's 50th birthday in 1996.\n\nThe Theater \nThe theater is located in Jerudong Park's Garden, designed with only a roof and its capacity is over 60,000. The stage is removable and can be replaced with an other stage. When Michael Jackson performed at the theater, he replaced the built in stage with his own stage. For the Royal Concert, Jackson used the stage from the Dangerous World Tour. And during the HIStory World Tour, Jackson used the stage for the tour minus the cherry picker and a statue of Jackson. \n\nWhitney Houston did not use an customized stage for her concert at the theater. It is unknown if Janet Jackson used her own stage for her concert. The theater is now used for wedding receptions, fundraiser events, and concerts.\n\nMichael Jackson concert \nOn July 16, 1996, Michael Jackson performed a free, private concert for the Sultan Of Brunei's 50th Birthday. The concert resembled the Dangerous World Tour. The concert was supposed to be a mixture of the Dangerous and Bad World Tours. These plans were later cancelled. Jackson also performed \"You Are Not Alone\" and \"Earth Song\". The Sultan did not attend the concert but did attend the New Years Eve Concert later that year.\n\nWhitney Houston concert \n\nOn August 24, 1996, Whitney Houston performed a concert in celebration of Princess Hamidah's marriage. The concert resembled The Bodyguard World Tour. Houston also performed \"The Greatest Love of All\" and \"Exhale (Shoop Shoop)\". The concert was attended by the Sultan. Houston was paid $7 million dollars.\n\nJanet Jackson concert \nDuring her Velvet Rope Tour, Janet Jackson performed a concert when Princess Rashidah turned twenty-one. It is unknown when the concert was performed. CDs were given to everyone in attendance.\n\nReferences \n\nAmphitheaters\nBuildings and structures in Bandar Seri Begawan\nEvent venues established in 1996",
"\"Leave Virginia Alone\" is a song written by Tom Petty and performed by Rod Stewart on Stewart's album A Spanner in the Works. The song reached number one on the Canadian RPM Top Singles and Adult Contemporary charts in 1995. It also reached number 52 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 53 in Australia. It was later included on Petty's album Wildflowers and All the Rest (2020).\n\nBackground\n\"Leave Virginia Alone\" was originally meant to be on Tom Petty's studio album Wildflowers, but the track did not make the album. In a Billboard interview with Rod Stewart, Stewart revealed that Petty's manager gave him the song when Petty believed the track was too similar to a previous hit of his. \"Leave Virginia Alone\" was added to Stewart's album A Spanner in the Works after the audio mastering was finished and was the first single for the album.\n\nRelease\nOn 13 May 1995, Stewart debuted \"Leave Virginia Alone\" on Saturday Night Lives twentieth-season finale.\n\nReception\n\"Leave Virginia Alone\" received positive reviews from critics. Popdose said the song was a \"solid song with a fitting vocal performance\" while Billboard complimented the connection between Rod Stewart's voice with the beats and acoustic guitars of the track. All the same, Stewart admitted to Billboard that at first, he did not like the song and had to be convinced to record the track.\n\nMusic video\nIn the music video, a woman runs away from people wearing costumes after holding a press conference. In an article in the Chicago Tribune, Susan Alexander said \"Leave Virginia Alone\" fit the music video format of having a \"bad girl\" who uses emotional manipulation. A few years later in Michigan Sociological Review, Alexander said she believed the woman in the video committed a sinful act, and the lyrics of \"Leave Virginia Alone\" point towards drug abuse and promiscuity.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear end charts\n\nTom Petty version\n\n\"Leave Virginia Alone\", this time sung by the writer Tom Petty, would later appear on the track list for the posthumous album released by his estate, Wildflowers & All the Rest. The song was released as a single from the album on October 1, 2020.\n\nSee also\n List of number-one singles of 1995 (Canada)\n\nReferences\n\n1995 singles\n1995 songs\nRod Stewart songs\nRPM Top Singles number-one singles\nSongs written by Tom Petty\nTom Petty songs"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,",
"Did he performed alone?",
"Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act \"Jim, Jake & Joan\"."
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
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What movie did she act in?
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What movie did Joan Rivers act in?
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Joan Rivers
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
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Film directors from New York City
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Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
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Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
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Participants in American reality television series
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People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
| true |
[
"Bobbie Willis (1941 - 2005) was a Glasgow born comedian, singer and actress. She was the daughter of entertainer Denny Willis and grand daughter of movie star Dave Willis.\nShe was a cast member of the Scottish TV soap High Living (Nora Murdock) and appeared in a sketch on the USA hit comedy series Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. She also worked with Calum Kennedy and Stanley Baxter. In her early days she did an aerial ballet and dance act in the circus in Germany.\n\nAfter her death in 2005 her collection of movie memorabilia was bought by Glasgow historian Robert Pool.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nBobbie Willis memorabilia in the Robert Pool Glasgow Collection\n\nScottish comedians\n1941 births\n2005 deaths\nActresses from Glasgow\n20th-century British comedians",
"Wema Sepetu (born 28 September 1990) is a Tanzanian actress and beauty contestant who won the Miss Tanzania contest in 2006 Miss Tanzania. She represented Tanzania in Miss World 2006, which was held in Poland. She later became an actress in Tanzania.\n\nEarly life and education\nShe hails from the diplomatic family of the Late Abraham Sepetu. She is the last born in a family of four children. She obtained her primary, secondary, and high school education at Academic International School in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and she later joined Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Malaysia to pursue an international business course which she did for one year and then dropped out to continue with acting.\n\nMiss Tanzania 2006 and Miss World 2006\nAfter winning the title of Miss Tanzania in 2006, Wema traveled to Warsaw, Poland to compete in the Miss World 2006.\n\nCareer\n\nActing \nShe was introduced into the movie industry by the late Steven Kanumba during their dating, she made her film debut in A Point of No Return she played Dina, the main character alongside Steven Kanumba, she gave an outstanding performance as young lady who is forced by her family to marry the witch man Lameck (Steven Kanumba) who is not her choice. She later appeared in many movies such as Family Tears, Red Valentine, White Maria that made her to be one of the popular and desired actresses in Tanzania.She has appeared in more than 20 films.\nIn 2011 she produced the movie called Superstar the film that tells her love life with musician Diamond Platnumz who have been on and off for some period, The movie was launched in 2012 at the Kilimanjaro Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dar Es Salaam and was graced by many people including Omotola Jalade Ekeinde from Nigeria who was the guest of honour. But the movie didn't enter into the market till today and Wema said that she still looking for a best distributor who can pay her compared to her production costs since she stated that most of the distributors have pledged a few money compared to what she invested. After that she appeared in the movies Basilisa, It Was not Me, House boy, Madame, and others.\nIn 2014 she collaborated with Van Vicker from Ghana to produce a movie called Day After Death starring Wema and Van Vicker. The Film was planned to be released in 2015 but due to some delays it has not entered the market up to today. Apart from D.A.D to not be released. Luckily when celebrating her 30th birthday she did a premier of the movie DAD and now has been a must watch movie. Wema appeared in some movies from 2015 to 2016 such as Family, Mapenzi Yamerogwa and Chungu Cha Tatu among others\nIn 2017 she made a comeback with her film called Heaven Sent which she produced and act as leading character that has also had Salim Ahmed (Gabo) as the main character, the launch took place at Century Cinemax Mlimani City Dar Es Salaam Tanzania, the movie was sold via her mobile application Wema App, the movie received seven nominations at the 2018 Sinema Zetu International Film Festival Awards including Best Actress and Best Feature Film, where Wema won Best Actress and the movie won People's Choice\n\nEndless Fame Production\nIn 2013 she launched her company called Endless Fame Production. The company deals with movies production and Artists management, they have managed some of Tanzanian musicians such as Mirror and Ally Luna. The company has produced movies such as Superstar, Unexpected, Day After Death, Family, and Heaven Sent.\n\nFilmography\n\nMovies\n\nTelevision\n\nAwards and nominations\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1988 births\nLiving people\nTanzanian actresses\nTanzanian beauty pageant winners\nMiss World 2006 delegates\n21st-century Tanzanian actresses"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,",
"Did he performed alone?",
"Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act \"Jim, Jake & Joan\".",
"What movie did she act in?",
"She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer"
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
|
What award was she given?
| 4 |
What award was Joan Rivers given for The Swimmer?
|
Joan Rivers
|
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish activists
Jewish women writers
Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
New York (state) Republicans
Participants in American reality television series
People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
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"The following is a list of MTV Pilipinas winners for Best Song or Favorite Song, depending on what year the award was given. The last of this award was given out in 2005.\n\nMTV Pilipinas Music Awards\nSong awards",
"Rebecca Kabugho (born 4 September 1994) is a Congolese activist who was detained by the government. She was said to be one of the youngest prisoners of conscience and she was given an International Women of Courage Award in 2017.\n\nLife\nKabugho was born in Goma in 1994 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She was a member of the LUCHA (Lutte pour le changement -\nStruggle for Change) which had been founded in her home town in June 2012. LUCHA was a non-hierarchical non-violent movement for change.\n\nLUCHA was opposed by Congo's National Intelligence Agency as a \"insurrectionist movement\". Kabugho and she was one of six members arrested on 16 February after several peaceful protests but the protest at that time was named \"Dead City\". She and the other five men were charged with encouraging civil disobedience over President Joseph Kabila's disregard of Congo's constitution.\n\nShe spent six months in a prison in her home town whilst being lauded on social media and the international press as \"one of\" the \"youngest prisoner of conscience in the world\".\n\nOn 19 December 2016, Rebecca was amongst 19 other activists who were arrested again for protesting against what they consider as an unconstitutional government. She was released within a week but continued to be a leading non-violent campaigner for improvements in Congo.\n\nKabugho was awarded an International Women of Courage Award by Melania Trump in March 2017 with twelve other women. In 2016 she was awarded International Women of Courage Award.\n\nReferences\n\n1994 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Goma\nDemocratic Republic of the Congo human rights activists\nAmnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Democratic Republic of the Congo\nDemocratic Republic of the Congo women activists\nWomen who received the International Women of Courage Award"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,",
"Did he performed alone?",
"Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act \"Jim, Jake & Joan\".",
"What movie did she act in?",
"She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer",
"What award was she given?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
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Did she has anyother work apart from acting?
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Did Joan Rivers have any other work apart from acting?
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Joan Rivers
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand.
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
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Jewish activists
Jewish women writers
Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
New York (state) Republicans
Participants in American reality television series
People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
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[
"Emilee Wallace (born September 19, 1989) is an American actress.\n\nCareer\nWallace began her acting career in 2005. She has appeared in episodes of the television series Judging Amy (2005), Grey's Anatomy (2006), Cold Case (2008), Boston Legal (2008), Glee (2009, 2013), Ghost Whisperer (2010), Workaholics (2012), Rizzoli & Isles (2012−13). Apart from television work, she also appeared on the television films Company Town (2006) and Amish Grace (2010), and her first feature film Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach (2008).\n\nFilmography\n\nFilm\n\nTelevision\n\nPersonal life\nWallace was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1989 births\nLiving people\nActresses from Oklahoma City\nPeople from Edmond, Oklahoma\nAmerican television actresses\nAmerican film actresses\n21st-century American actresses\nCalifornia State University alumni",
"Nisha Bano is a Punjabi film actor and singer.\n\nEarly career \nShe was born in Mansa, Punjab. She completed her schooling at Yogesh Memorial public school in Mansa, Punjab. She was very active in art & cultural activities during her school days. She has completed her graduation from SD College, Mansa. She has won many prizes in giddha during college youth festivals. She was first appeared in Punjabi television series with Bhagwant Mann. Meanwhile, Bano worked along with Binu Dhillon and Karamjit Anmol on various stages all around the world.\n\nCareer\n\nActing career \nNisha Bano started her acting through a TV Show named \"Hasde Hasande Ravo\" telecasted on Channel MH1. Later, She began her film journey from movie \"Jatt and Juliet\". She has played roles in Punjabi movies like \"Jatt Airways\", \"Bhaji in Problem\", \"Jatt Boys – Putt Jattan De\", \"Angrej\", \"Fer Mamla Gadbad Gadbad\", \"Bazz\", \"Teshan\", \"Nikka Zaildar\", \"Manje Bistre\", Puaada and many more.\n\nSinging career \nApart from acting, Nisha Bano is famous for duet singing with Karamjit Anmol. She sung various Punjabi songs as Playback Singer for Punjabi Movies, such as \"Morni\", \"Mai Chadta\", \"Mere Wala Jatt\".\n\nReferences \n\nPeople from Mansa district, India\n1984 births\nLiving people\nActresses from Punjab, India\nPunjabi singers"
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"She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer",
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"During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand."
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Who did she work with?
| 6 |
Who did Joan Rivers work with?
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Joan Rivers
|
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
|
Jack Paar.
|
Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish activists
Jewish women writers
Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
New York (state) Republicans
Participants in American reality television series
People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
| true |
[
"Ha Soo Whang (1892-1984), also known as Hwang Hae-su, was a social worker. She was the first Korean social worker in Hawaii, and acted as a bilingual interpreter for the families under her care. A graduate of Athens College, she was affiliated with the YWCA's International Institute. She is credited with spreading the art of Korean dance in Hawaii.\n\nCareer \nWhang was born in Korea and was educated in missionary schools there. She came to America for college. On her way back to Korea in 1922, she stopped in Hawaii, and was offered a job at the YWCA International Institute. While there, she started the HyungJay Club, where young Korean-American women could learn about traditional Korean culture, and the Mother's club, where elderly Korean women could become more familiar with American culture. Her goal was to bridge the gap between first- and second-generation Korean-Americans, but was foremost concerned with the well-being of the Korean community in Hawaii.\n\nDance \nBefore Whang began her work, \"respectable\" Korean women did not dance, and men did so only when they were intoxicated. Whang did not teach dance herself, but rather found dancers who were willing to teach and connected them with students. Susan Chun Lee and Chai Yong Ha were two dancers she worked closely with in this capacity. Whang organized performances until 1942, when the International Institute was dissolved. She left Hawaii in 1943. Her work promoting Korean dance and culture in Hawaii was continued first by Halla Pai Huhm, then Mary Jo Freshley.\n\nPersonal life \nHer family was involved with the Korean National Association and her brothers were ordained Methodist ministers. Her nieces, Mary and Elizabeth, came to live with her in Hawaii after their mother, Chang Tae Sun, passed away.\n\nSee also \n Halla Pai Huhm\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links \n Interview with Mary Whang Choy about Ha Soo Whang, her aunt\n\n1892 births\n1984 deaths\nAthens State University alumni\nAmerican social workers\nAmerican people of Korean descent",
"Erin Macdonald is an astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, and science fiction consultant. She hosts the YouTube channel, Dr. Erin Explains the Universe, teaches STEM through popular culture, and consults with science fiction creators.\n\nEducation and early career \nMacdonald credits fictional characters such as Dana Scully and Kathryn Janeway (the latter of whom she even acknowledges in her Ph.D. dissertation) with providing the inspiration to pursue a science career. She earned her bachelor's degrees in astrophysics and mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder (after transferring there from the University of New Mexico) and her Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow, where she concentrated in general relativity.\n\nMacdonald did post-doctoral work with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration as part of an attempt to detect gravitational waves from the Crab Pulsar. She also did post-doctoral work at Cardiff University, still with LIGO, where she was the first female researcher in her department. During this period she became involved with the Actors Workshop, in Cardiff, which she credits with helping her efforts at science communication. Macdonald's first job after leaving academia was at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. She also began teaching at local community colleges and eventually found work analyzing data in the aerospace industry.\n\nScience communication \n\nWhile searching for a better work-life balance than that provided in research and academia, Macdonald found opportunities to still teach through a combination of conducting introductory courses and speaking at science fiction conventions. She would discover that these activities put her “in front of students and kids who may find inspiration in a punk-redhead woman covered in tattoos who also happens to have a PhD.” After deciding not to pursue an academic research career, Macdonald began giving talks at science fiction conventions in the areas of her expertise that link the science to the various fandoms of her audience members. For example, she has used Voltron: Legendary Defender to teach about spacetime. She has made appearances at such conventions as Awesome Con and Dragon Con. This led her to meeting and working with science fiction writers in the entertainment industry.\n\nScience fiction consultation \nMacdonald moved to Los Angeles from Colorado and works with writers and producers in Hollywood to bring scientific accuracy to their productions. She has, for example, served as technical consultant on several episodes of Orbital Redux. In 2019, Macdonald produced a Great Courses course on the science of science fiction via Audible.\n\nIn late 2019, Macdonald became a science consultant for Star Trek. She would work with producers and writers throughout the Star Trek franchise.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official web site\n Dr. Erin Explains the Universe\n\nAmerican women physicists\nAmerican women engineers\nWomen space scientists\nScience communicators\nUniversity of Colorado Boulder alumni\nAlumni of the University of Glasgow\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nAerospace engineers\n21st-century American women"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,",
"Did he performed alone?",
"Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act \"Jim, Jake & Joan\".",
"What movie did she act in?",
"She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer",
"What award was she given?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she has anyother work apart from acting?",
"During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand.",
"Who did she work with?",
"Jack Paar."
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
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Did she write any book?
| 7 |
Did Joan Rivers write any book?
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Joan Rivers
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During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American female comedians
Jewish American philanthropists
Jewish American writers
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish activists
Jewish women writers
Late night television talk show hosts
Medical malpractice
New York (state) Republicans
Participants in American reality television series
People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
People from Larchmont, New York
People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
| false |
[
"Nirbachito Column () or (Selected Columns) is a feminist work in Bengali literature. It was published in 1992 and is a collection of essays by exiled Bengali author Taslima Nasrin which were previously published in the newspaper Ajker Kagoj. The author was awarded the Ananda Purashkar, a major Bengali literary award, for the book.\n\nSynopsis\nThe book starts by describing her experience of being tortured by a boy when she was eighteen or nineteen. The boy pressed a half-smoked burning cigarette on her hand and laughed and went away. The column ends with mentioning that once in her city, there were some signboards which mentioned \"seek help of cops if ever teasers disturb you\". The column says, \"it did not work out. Probably the teasers eradicated those signboards along with the stamps. As long as those signboards existed, teasers used to stand leaning on the wooden posts of those and whistle at girls. And the most ironic thing is, once, girls had to seek help of those teasers to protect themselves from the teasing of cops.\" \n\nThe book criticizes Islam, Hinduism, and religions in general as man made tools to oppress women. The book inspired so many women, while angered so many fundamentalists, at the same time. This is the first Bengali book ever where a woman talks about sex without any hesitation. Sex discussion is still a taboo in Bangladesh. Columns that are presented in this book were written between 1989-1990. These columns revived the feminist struggle in Bangladesh after almost one century of Roquia Sakhawat Hussain.\n\nPublication\nIn 1989 Taslima Nasrin was invited by then editor Naimul Islam Khan (later her husband) to write columns for the popular newspaper Ajker Kagoj. Taslima Nasrin replied, \"Sorry, I don't know how to write a column.\" Khan replied, \"Don't worry. Write anything that comes to your mind.\"\n\nWhile Taslima Nasrin was thinking about a subject to write about, her gaze fell on her right hand. She noticed a scar and remembered about the boy who pressed the cigarette on her hand, that left the black mark there. Then she took the pen and wrote about the event. She was still uncertain about whether the essay was really acceptable, but she submitted it, mentioning \"I don't know the method of writing column. I just wrote about an experience of my own life.\"\n\nShe was unsure about whether the column would really be published or not. To her surprise, when the column came out in the newspaper, it grabbed the attention of many readers, and then she was invited to write columns regularly. Sales of the newspaper rose whenever she wrote an article.\n\nIn 1991, publisher Mujibur Rahman Khoka, who was a friend of Taslima Nasrin, offered to publish a book on her columns, which she agreed to. After publication, the book became a best seller and was also popular in West Bengal. The book became controversial and helped spread Nasrin's name\n\nControversy\nWhen the book was declared for Ananda Award, Nasrin informed the award committee that the book contains a column where she copied a write-up of Sukumari Bhattacharya on Vedas. But the committee did not take it as a big deal, probably because she herself confessed about it. There is some controversy about the book. The book was criticized by Muslims and traditionalists. They declare that she presented Islam negatively, without understanding Quran and Hadith properly.\n\nAwards\nTaslima Nasrin got Ananda Purashkar for the book back in 1992.\n\nTranslations\nDebjani Sengupta has translated the book into English. It has also been translated in Hindi, Assamese, Marathi and many other languages.\n\nReferences \n\n1992 non-fiction books\nBengali-language literature\nFeminist essays\nEssay collections",
"Victoria Aveyard (born July 27, 1990) is an American writer of young adult and fantasy fiction and screenplays. She is known for her fantasy novel Red Queen. Aveyard wrote the novel a year after graduating from University of Southern California's screenwriting program in 2012. Sony Pictures teamed up with her to write spec screenplay Eternal.\n\nPersonal life\nAveyard was born in Massachusetts, but moved to California at the age of eighteen when she got accepted into USC, where she studied screenwriting. She is of Scottish and Italian descent and resides in Santa Monica, were she lives with her partner and dog.\n\nCareer\nAveyard did not write any books until after she graduated from USC. She said she was inspired to write Red Queen after she graduated college with a lot of student loan debt and did not see any way to get out of it, she used that and growing up in a post 9/11 world to write Red Queen. Victoria did not traditionally query, she signed with Suzie Townsend after she heard about her work when she was at USC's writing programme. Red Queen was published in 2015 and was met with positive reviews, for praise with it's storyline and diversity within the characters and plot twists. Three sequels came out after that and one prequel, Aveyard also worked on another book series called Realm Breaker which has reached number one on the New York Time's bestseller list. Originally, Red Queen was planned to be a film franchise with universal and Elizabeth Banks directing. In 2021, it was announced that the project will be a television series with Peacock, with Banks directing and appearing in a recurring role. Before production even began, Aveyard announced on Instagram that the series was renewed for a second season. Aveyard also wrote the pilot script for Red Queen.\n\nBibliography\n\nRed Queen\n Red Queen (2015)\n Glass Sword (2016)\n King's Cage (2017)\n War Storm (2018)\n\nNovellas\n Cruel Crown (2016, Collects both the novellas Queen Song and Steel Scars)\n Queen Song (2015)\n Steel Scars (2016)\n Broken Throne (2019)\n\nRealm Breaker \n\n Realm Breaker (2021)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Personal blog\n\nAmerican women novelists\nAmerican fantasy writers\nLiving people\nPeople from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts\nNovelists from Massachusetts\n21st-century American novelists\nUSC School of Cinematic Arts alumni\n21st-century American women writers\nWomen science fiction and fantasy writers\n1990 births"
] |
[
"Joan Rivers",
"1950s-1960sEdit",
"What happened in 1960?",
"Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s,",
"Did he performed alone?",
"Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act \"Jim, Jake & Joan\".",
"What movie did she act in?",
"She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer",
"What award was she given?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she has anyother work apart from acting?",
"During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand.",
"Who did she work with?",
"Jack Paar.",
"Did she write any book?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_a6efc19de709467b9685c0c822d963fa_1
|
Any thing else?
| 8 |
Aside from her books, was there anything else about Joan Rivers?
|
Joan Rivers
|
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, co-starring Barbra Streisand. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, were in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no -- she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] [...]". She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appeareance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson. As her profile raised significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories. CANNOTANSWER
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By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations
|
Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American actress, comedian, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics.
Rivers started her career in comedy clubs in Greenwich Village alongside her peers George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor. She then rose to prominence in 1965 as a guest on The Tonight Show. Hosted by her mentor, Johnny Carson, the show established Rivers' comedic style. In 1986, with her own rival program, The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Rivers became the first woman to host a late night network television talk show. She subsequently hosted The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993), winning a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host. From the mid-1990s, she became known for her comedic red carpet awards show celebrity interviews. Rivers co-hosted the E! celebrity fashion show Fashion Police from 2010 to 2014 and starred in the reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? (2011–2014) with daughter Melissa Rivers. She was the subject of the documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010).
In addition to marketing a line of jewelry and apparel on the QVC shopping channel, Rivers authored 12 best-selling books and three LP comedy albums under her own name: Mr. Phyllis and Other Funny Stories (Warner Bros 1965), The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album (Buddah 1969), and What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? (Geffen 1983). She was nominated in 1984 for a Grammy Award for her album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?; and was nominated in 1994 for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of the title role in Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts. In 2009, Rivers competed alongside her daughter Melissa on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, ultimately winning the season. In 2015, Rivers posthumously received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva.
In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers "quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive". In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her sixth on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and in October the same year, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Early life
Joan Alexandra Molinsky was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman) and Meyer C. Molinsky. She had an elder sister named Barbara Waxler. Rivers spent her early life in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where she attended the progressive and now-defunct Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, a college preparatory day school, where she was co-chairman of her school, due to her past experiences in theatrical activities. Within two years, she performed in the School Cavalcades, and in 1949, aged 16, she was vice president of the Dramatic Club. She graduated from the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, in 1951, at 18. In her adolescence, Rivers relocated with her family to Larchmont, north of New York City. Rivers stated in interviews that she was overweight throughout her childhood and adolescence, and that it had a profound impact on her body image, which she would struggle with throughout her life.
She attended Connecticut College for two years before transferring to Barnard College where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in English literature and anthropology. She repeatedly said, and it was reported, that she graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa; however, her biographer found these were fabrications, as with other statements such as sharing a lesbian kiss in a play with Barbra Streisand (they did both appear in a play named Driftwood, but were never on stage at the same time). Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center, a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency and a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores. During this period, agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.
Career
1950s–1960s
During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short Off-Broadway run play, Driftwood, in which Barbra Streisand was also a cast member. It ran for six weeks on playwright Maurice Tei Dunn's apartment on 49th Street, in NYC, according to an interview with Adweek. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End, The Gaslight Cafe and The Duplex. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them. She also describes working in the Village alongside noted musicians Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel. Between 1963 and 1964, Rivers, along with Jim Connell and Jake Holmes, was in the cabaret act "Jim, Jake & Joan". A 1964 appearance at The Bitter End resulted in their appearance in the motion picture, Once Upon A Coffee House, which was also Rivers' first big screen credit. The group parted ways shortly afterwards, on which member Holmes later recalled: "We were supposed to do this rally for Bobby Kennedy, who was running for New York senator in 1964. We were going to play at the rally. Joan showed up with a [Republican Senate nominee Kenneth] Keating button on. And Jim said take that off. She said no — she was sticking to her political guns. And Jim said, "Who needs you, anyway?" That was the end [of Jim, Jake & Joan] ...".
She also made an appearance as a guest on the television program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar. By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. After seven auditions during a period of three years, she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965. Rivers credited this episode to be her breakthrough, as Carson said to her on the air "you're gonna be a star". Following this appearance, she became a frequent guest on the program and a close friend of Carson.
As her profile rose significantly in the subsequent years, she started to make guest-appearances in numerous popular shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dick Cavett Show and Girl Talk, with Virginia Graham. She also wrote material for the puppet mouse Topo Gigio. She had a brief role in the cult drama film The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, and at the time, she also had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show, That Show with Joan Rivers, which premiered on September 16, 1968. Each episode had a theme and Rivers did an opening monologue based on the day's topic, followed by celebrity interviews. The show also featured an expert on the subject and a celebrity guest; Johnny Carson was her first guest. In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums: The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album and Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.
1970s
By the 1970s, Rivers continued to be a prominent fixture on television. Along with her other guest-spots on the late-night circuit, she also made appearances in The Carol Burnett Show, had a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares and guest-starred in Here's Lucy. Rivers made her Broadway debut in the play Fun City, which opened on January 2, 1972, and co-starred Gabriel Dell, Rose Marie and Paul Ford. It ran for only nine performances amid a negative critical reception. Though a New York Times reviewer criticized the production as "frenetic to the point of being frazzled," he praised Rivers as "a deft comedy writer" and "a very funny lady". From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1973, Rivers co-wrote the made-for-television movie The Girl Most Likely To..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing as an ugly girl who becomes beautiful after undergoing plastic surgery, and takes revenge on people who previously mistreated her. The film, based on Rivers' story, became a ratings success and has been considered a "cult classic". She also wrote a thrice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1976, and published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974; she described it as a "catalogue of gynaecological anxieties". In 1978, Rivers made her directorial debut with the comedy Rabbit Test, which she also wrote and which starred her friend Billy Crystal in his film debut as the world's first pregnant man. The film flopped at the box office and was panned by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times concluded: "Miss Rivers has turned to directing without paying much heed to whether a whole movie constructed from one-liners is worth even the sum of its parts." During the same decade, she was the opening act for singers Helen Reddy, Robert Goulet, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, and Sergio Franchi on the Las Vegas Strip.
1980s
During the early and mid-1980s, Rivers found further success on stand-up and television, though the decade subsequently proved to be controversial for her. The year 1983, in particular, was very successful; she performed at Carnegie Hall in February, did the March stand-up special An Audience with Joan Rivers, hosted the April 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, and released the best-selling comedy album What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?, which reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. By August 1983, Carson established Rivers as his first permanent guest host on The Tonight Show. At the time, she spoke of her primary Tonight Show life as having been "Johnny Carson's daughter", a reference to his longtime mentoring of her.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Rivers served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. A friend of Nancy Reagan, Rivers attended a state dinner in 1983, and later performed at a luncheon at the 1984 Republican National Convention. In 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character, which was mostly jokes about promiscuity – of a type that would have been considered unacceptable even in burlesque a generation earlier. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz: Tramp of the Century, later aired on Showtime. She later wrote her next book, Enter Talking, which was released in 1986, and described her rise to stardom and the evolution of her comedic persona.
In 1986, the move came that ended Rivers' longtime friendship with Johnny Carson. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, making Rivers the first woman to have her own late-night talk show on a major network. The new network planned to broadcast the show 11 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers. In the documentary Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, Rivers said that she only called Carson to discuss the matter after learning that he may have already heard about it and that he immediately hung up on her. In the same interview, she said that she later came to believe that maybe she should have asked for his blessing before taking the job. Rivers was banned from ever appearing on The Tonight Show for the rest of Carson's tenure and the entire runs of Carson's first two successors Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien out of respect for Carson. Rivers did not appear on The Tonight Show again until February 17, 2014, when she made a brief appearance on new host Jimmy Fallon's first episode. On March 27, 2014, Rivers returned to the show for an interview.
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers premiered on October 9, 1986, and soon turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both on May 15, 1987. Three months later, on August 14, 1987, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox. Rivers credited Nancy Reagan with helping her after her husband's suicide. Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.
During the airing of her late-night show, she made the voice-over role of Dot Matrix in the science-fiction comedy Spaceballs (1987), a parody based (mainly) on Star Wars. The film, directed and co-starring Mel Brooks, was a critical and commercial success, later becoming a "cult classic". After the Fox controversy, her career went into hiatus. Rivers subsequently appeared on various television shows, including the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in December 1989. She also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986–89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson. On September 5, 1989, The Joan Rivers Show, her daytime television program, premiered in broadcast syndication. The show, which ran for five seasons, was a success and earned Rivers the Daytime Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Entertainment Weekly, in a September 1990 article, asserted: "The Joan Rivers Show is a better showcase for her funny edginess than her doomed 1988 Fox nighttime program was. The best thing about her daytime talker is that Rivers' stream-of-consciousness chattiness is allowed to guide the show — you never know where the conversation is going to go".
1990s
In addition to winning the Emmy for The Joan Rivers Show, Rivers starred in the made-for-television comedy How to Murder a Millionaire, which premiered in May 1990 on CBS. In the film, co-starring Alex Rocco and Telma Hopkins, she took on the role of a Beverly Hills matron possessed with the idea her husband is trying to kill her. Also in 1990, she started to design jewelry, clothing and beauty products for the shopping channel QVC. On this professional endeavor, Rivers said: "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay. ... It also intrigued me at the beginning". The sales of Rivers' products exceeded $1 billion by 2014, making her one of the network's top sellers. In 1991, she wrote her next book, Still Talking, which described the cancellation of her late-night show and her husband's suicide. Until 1993, she received five additional Emmy nominations for her daytime talk-show The Joan Rivers Show — two for Outstanding Writing – Special Class and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards and, beginning in 1995, E!'s annual Academy Awards pre-awards show as well. Rivers and her daughter quickly became credited for revolutionizing the red carpet as a space to showcase designers' work and celebrity interactions. "Joan and Melissa were the first people who came out and made it more of a true conversation between star and reporter", E!'s Senior Vice President of production, Gary Snegaroff, remarked to Vanity Fair. "They asked about what [actresses] were wearing because that's what the magazines would cover after the fact, and turned it into a candid conversation on the carpet where anything could happen". Rivers and Melissa, at the time, both portrayed themselves in the made-for-television drama Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story, which chronicled the aftermath of Rosenburg's suicide. It aired on NBC on May 15, 1994. The next year, she wrote her book Jewelry by Joan Rivers.
Influenced by the stand-up comedy of Lenny Bruce, Rivers co-wrote and starred in a play about Bruce's mother Sally Marr, who was also a stand-up comic and influenced her son's development as a comic. After 27 previews, Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts, a play "suggested by the life of Sally Marr" ran on Broadway for 50 performances in May and June 1994. The production received mixed reviews, but her performance was applauded by critics. The Chicago Sun Times found Rivers to be "compelling" as an actress while The New York Times wrote: "... [S]he is exuberant, fearless and inexhaustible. If you admire performers for taking risks, then you can't help but applaud her efforts". Rivers was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Marr. Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City, and wrote three self-help books: Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! in 1997, From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage in 1998, and Don't Count the Candles: Just Keep the Fire Lit!, in 1999.
2000s
Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' San Francisco Conference in 2000, and by the first part of the decade, she continued to host the awards' red carpet for the E! channel. Between 2002 and 2004, she embarked on tour with her one-person comedy show Joan Rivers: Broke and Alone, which was presented in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh and London) and in the United States (Los Angeles, and Boston), to generally positive reviews. The Telegraph felt that her "hilarious assaults on fellow celebrities and tirades about the perils of ageing and plastic surgery are well worth the expense", while The Guardian remarked that "Rivers returned triumphant, a victorious heavyweight after a great fight, conscious that she is still the champion".
In 2003, Rivers left the network red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued at $6–8 million) to cover award shows' red carpet events for the TV Guide Channel. Meanwhile, Rivers guest-starred as herself in several television series, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nip/Tuck, and Boston Legal, and also voiced herself for a brief scene in the 2004 animated fantasy film Shrek 2. In 2004, Rivers was part of the formal receiving party when Ronald Reagan was placed in state at the United States Capitol. On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed at the 79th Royal Variety Show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present. She wrote and starred in the play Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, which was directed by Sean Foley, and presented through 2008 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Leicester Square Theatre, to a mixed critical reception.
In 2008, Rivers was invited to take part in a comedy event celebrating Prince Charles' 60th Birthday titled, We Are Most Amused. She was the only American alongside Robin Williams invited to take part in the event. Other comedians included, John Cleese, who served as the master of ceremonies, Eric Idle, Rowan Atkinson, and Bill Bailey. In attendance included Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry.
Throughout the decade, Rivers often appeared in various television game shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Celebrity Family Feud, in which she competed with her daughter against Ice-T and Coco. In 2009, Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants on season eight of Celebrity Apprentice. During the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver. After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke. On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Rivers was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.
Also in 2009, Rivers was a special "pink-carpet" presenter for the broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, was roasted in a Comedy Central special, and her reality show, How'd You Get So Rich?, premiered on TV Land. The program, which ran for two seasons, followed Rivers traveling around the United States interviewing self-made millionaires. She also wrote two books in 2009: Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery and Men Are Stupid ... And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (with Valerie Frankel).
2010s
A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010.
The film follows Rivers for 14 months, mostly during the 76th year of her life, and made an effort to "[peel] away the mask" and expose the "struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground breaking female performer". The film was released in a limited release on June 11, 2010, and was acclaimed by critics for providing "an honest, behind-the-scenes look at [Rivers]' career — and at show business in general". Beginning on September 10, 2010, Rivers co-hosted the E! show Fashion Police, along with Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osbourne, and George Kotsiopoulos, commenting on celebrity fashion. The show started as a half-hour program but due to its success with viewers, it was expanded to one hour on March 9, 2012. The August 26, 2014 episode of Fashion Police, about the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2014 MTV Movie Awards, was her last television appearance before her death.
In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, and was featured as herself in the season two of Louis C.K.'s self-titled show Louie, where she performed on stage. Also in 2011, Rivers and her daughter starred in the reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, which premiered on WE tv. The series follows her moving in with her daughter to California to be closer to her family. The show ran for four seasons until 2014. On the December 4, 2011 episode of The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Rivers took on the role of Annie Dubinsky, an agent trying to revive Krusty's career. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire". In 2012, she guest-starred in two episodes of two series: Drop Dead Diva and Hot in Cleveland.
Rivers released her 11th book I Hate Everyone...Starting with Me on June 5, 2012. It received generally positive reviews and made The New York Times Best Seller list for several weeks. The New York Times remarked that there were "more punch lines per paragraph than any book I've read in years", and Publishers Weekly felt that "Rivers is equally passionate and opinionated on every subject she discusses. Hilarious and undeniably original". On August 7, 2012, Rivers showed up in Burbank, California to protest that the warehouse club Costco would not sell the book. She handcuffed herself to a shopping cart and shouted through a megaphone. The police were called to the scene and she left without incident; no arrests were made. On March 5, 2013, she launched the online talk show In Bed with Joan on YouTube. In it, Rivers invited a different guest to talk to her in bed about different things including their past, their love life and their career.
Rivers released her 12th book, Diary of a Mad Diva, on July 1, 2014, which also made The NY Times Best Seller list. For the book, she posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015. Before her death, she filmed a part, along with other female comedians, for the documentary MAKERS: Women in Comedy, which premiered on PBS in October 2014.
Comedic style
During her 55-year career as a comedian, her tough-talking style of satirical humor was both praised and criticized as truthful, yet too personal, too gossipy, and very often abrasive. Nonetheless, with her ability to "tell it like it is", she became a pioneer of contemporary stand-up comedy. Commenting about her style, she told biographer Gerald Nachman, "Maybe I started it. We're a very gossipy culture. All we want to know now is private lives." However, her style of humor, which often relied on making jokes about her own life and satirizing the lives of celebrities and public figures, was sometimes criticized as insensitive. Her jokes about Elizabeth Taylor and Adele's weight, for instance, were often commented on, although Rivers would never apologize for her humor.
Rivers, who was Jewish, was also criticized for making jokes about the Holocaust and later explained, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor", adding, "my husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust." Her joke about the victims of the Ariel Castro kidnappings similarly came under criticism, but she again refused to apologize, stating, "I know what those girls went through. It was a little stupid joke." She received multiple death threats throughout her career. Rivers accepted such criticism as the price of using social satire as a form of humor: "I've learned to have absolutely no regrets about any jokes I've ever done ... You can tune me out, you can click me off, it's OK. I am not going to bow to political correctness. But you do have to learn, if you want to be a satirist, you can't be part of the party."
As an unknown stand-up comedian out of college, she struggled for many years before finding her comic style. She did stints in the Catskills and found that she disliked the older style of comedy at the time, such as Phyllis Diller's, who she nevertheless felt was a pioneer female comedian. Her breakthrough came at The Second City in Chicago in 1961, where she was dubbed "the best girl since Elaine May", who also got her start there. But May became her and fellow comedian Treva Silverman's role model, as Rivers saw her as "an assertive woman with a marvelous, fast mind and, at the same time, pretty and feminine". It was also there that she learned "self reliance", she said, "that I didn't have to talk down in my humor" and could still earn an income by making intelligent people laugh. "I was really born as a comedian at Second City. I owe it my career."
In early 1965, at the suggestion of comedian Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson gave Rivers, whom he billed as a comedy writer, her debut appearance on his show. Cosby, who knew Rivers from their early stand-up days, described her as "an intelligent girl without being a weirdo...a human being, not a kook." Sitting alongside Johnny after her monologue, she displayed an intimate, conversational style which he appreciated, and she was invited back eight more times that year. Time magazine compared her humor to that of Woody Allen, by expressing "how to be neurotic about practically everything", but noting that "her style and femininity make her something special." Rivers also compared herself to Allen, stating: "He was a writer, which I basically was...and talking about things that affected our generation that nobody else talked about." The New York Times critic Charles L. Mee likewise compared her to Allen, explaining that her "style was personal, an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness".
According to biographer Victoria Price, Rivers' humor was notable for taking aim at and overturning what had been considered acceptable female behavior. She broke through long-standing taboos in humor, which paved the way for other women, including Roseanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell.
Rivers became closely associated with her catchphrase: "Can we talk?".
Personal life
Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.
Rivers was licensed to carry a gun in New York City. She was threatened with the loss of the license after an altercation with a car rental clerk in 2002.
Relationships and family
Rivers' first marriage was in 1956 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.
Rivers married Edgar Rosenberg on July 15, 1965. Their only child, Melissa Rivers, was born on January 20, 1968. Joan Rivers had one grandson, Cooper, born Edgar Cooper Endicott in 2000. Along with his mother and grandmother, Cooper was featured in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? Rivers was married to Rosenberg until his suicide in 1987, four days after she asked him for a separation. She would later describe her marriage to Rosenberg as a "total sham", complaining bitterly about his treatment of her during their 22-year marriage. In a 2012 interview with Howard Stern, Rivers said she had several extramarital affairs when married to Rosenberg, including a one-night stand with actor Robert Mitchum in the 1960s and an affair with actor Gabriel Dell. In the 1990s, she was in an eight-year relationship with the commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, disabled World War II veteran Orin Lehman of the Lehman family.
In her book Bouncing Back, Rivers described how she developed bulimia nervosa after Rosenberg's 1987 suicide, and the subsequent death of her psychologist, with whom she had developed a close friendship, of an AIDS related illness. Additionally, Rivers' relationship with her daughter had been strained at the time, as Melissa blamed her for her father's death. According to Rivers, the confluence of events resulted in her contemplating suicide in her California home. "I got the gun out, the whole thing," she recalled in a 2008 interview. "And [then] my dog came and sat in my lap...and that was a big turning point in my life. My little, stupid dog, a Yorkie, who I adored, literally came and sat on my lap. ...and literally, he saved my life. Truly saved my life." Rivers eventually recovered with counseling and the support of her family.
In a 2002 ITV biography, Rivers reveals that she is the great niece (on her mother's side) of singer Happy Fanny Fields. She says that, "(Fanny) was the star of the family; she came over to the United States and married very, very rich and became very grand. But, she was the one person Noël Coward wanted to meet when he hit the United States."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Rivers supported causes which included HIV/AIDS activism, and in May 1985, she appeared along with Nichols and May at a Comic Relief benefit for the new AIDS Medical Foundation in New York City, where tickets at the Shubert Theatre sold for as much as $500. She supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and God's Love We Deliver, which delivers meals to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City. In 2008, she was commended by the City of San Diego, California for her philanthropic work on behalf of HIV/AIDS, where the HIV/AIDS community called her its "Joan of Arc".
Additionally, she served as an Honorary Director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She also supported Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit organization which provides guide dogs to blind people. She donated to Jewish charities, animal welfare efforts, and suicide prevention causes. Among the other non-profit organizations which she helped were Rosie's Theater Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Human Rights Campaign and the Boy Scouts of America.
Cosmetic procedures
Rivers was open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and had been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. She had her nose thinned while still at college; her next procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 (when she was in her 30s) as an attempt to further her career. When promoting her book, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery, described by The New York Times Magazine as "a detailed and mostly serious guide to eye lifts, tummy tucks and other forms of plastic surgery", she quipped: "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware."
Death
On August 28, 2014, Rivers experienced serious complications and stopped breathing while undergoing what was scheduled to be a minor throat procedure at an outpatient clinic in Yorkville, Manhattan. Resuscitated an hour later, Rivers was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem and later put on life support. She died on September 4 at Mount Sinai, never having awakened from a medically induced coma. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office said that she died from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
After nearly two months of investigations, federal officials said on November 10 that the clinic made a number of mistakes both before and during the procedure. Among those were the clinic's failure to respond to Rivers' deteriorating vital signs, including a severe drop in her blood pressure, possibly administering an incorrect anesthetic dosage, performing a surgical procedure without her consent, and other medical-clinic irregularities.
On September 7, after the cremation of Rivers' body at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey, a private memorial service took place at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. The guest list included Rivers' many celebrity friends and public figures such as Howard Stern, Louis C.K., Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Joy Behar, Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. The musical performances included Hugh Jackman singing "Quiet Please, There's a Lady On Stage", as well as the New York City Gay Men's Chorus singing old show tunes. Talk show host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy, described Rivers as "brassy in public [and] classy in private ... a troublemaker, trail blazer, pioneer for comics everywhere, ... [who] fought the stereotypes that women can't be funny." Daughter Melissa read a comedic note to her mother as part of her eulogy. Some of Rivers' ashes were scattered by her daughter in Wyoming.
On January 26, 2015, Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the doctors who performed surgery on her mother. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in May 2016, with the doctors accepting responsibility for Rivers' death.
Reactions and tributes
Upon Rivers' death, friends, fans, family and celebrities paid tribute. Numerous comedians recognized Rivers' influence on their career, including Kathy Griffin, who considered Rivers her "mentor", noting, "She brought a fearlessness and a brand of humor into our homes that we really need." Chris Rock said "she was the hippest comedian from the time she started to the day she died". Describing her as a force in comedy, he added, "No man ever said, 'Yeah, I want to go on after Joan.' No, Joan Rivers closed the show every night." Other comedians recalled working with her on stage and television decades earlier: stand-up performer Don Rickles said "working with her and enjoying the fun times of life with her was special". Carol Burnett calls Rivers "the poster child for the Energizer Bunny".
Numerous talk show hosts, including David Muir, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Wendy Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Regis Philbin, Arsenio Hall, Ellen DeGeneres, and David Letterman, paid tribute to Rivers, often including video clips of her appearances. Letterman called her a "real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts." Conan O'Brien discussed Rivers' legacy with fellow comedian and lifelong friend Chris Hardwick on Conan, while Seth Meyers recalled Rivers' appearance on his talk show, saying, "I have not sat next to anyone who told more jokes faster than Joan Rivers did when she was here." On The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart noted her contributions to comedy: "There are very few people in my business that you can say are, or were, actually groundbreaking talents. Joan Rivers was one of them." Radio host Howard Stern, who delivered the eulogy at her funeral, devoted an entire one-hour show to Rivers. Stern sought help from comedian Louis C.K., another friend of Rivers', before giving the eulogy. When Stern spoke at the funeral, he began the eulogy with, "Joan Rivers had a dry vagina", a joke that was intended, and reportedly received by guests, as a humorous honoring of Rivers' comedic sensibility. Sarah Silverman paid tribute to Rivers while hosting Saturday Night Live; in one sketch, she portrayed Rivers in Heaven. Long-time friend, comedian, fellow talk show hostess and television personality Whoopi Goldberg tweeted: "My friend Joan Rivers has passed away". She said: "Once again to quote Billy Crystal...There are no words." Comedian Louis C.K. released a statement saying, "I looked up to her. I learned from her. I loved her. I liked her. And I already miss her very much. It really fucking sucks that she had to die all of a sudden.”
Amy Schumer, speaking at the 2014 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year Awards" ceremony in Carnegie Hall, paid tribute to Rivers, calling her the bravest female comedian.
Political figures giving tribute to Rivers included former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who said she was one of the "funniest people I ever knew". Upon hearing of her death, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said she was "utterly irreplaceable". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that besides bringing laughter to millions of people around the world, she was "proud of her Jewish heritage". Then-future U.S. President Donald Trump attended her funeral and tweeted that she "was an amazing woman and a great friend". After her mother's death, Melissa Rivers said she received a letter from President Barack Obama in which he wrote, despite being a frequent target of Rivers' jokes: "not only did she make us laugh, she made us think".
In a subsequent interview with The Huffington Post, Melissa Rivers cited Courtney Love's public tribute to her mother as her favorite, adding: "I loved seeing that outpouring from these women, especially the ones who took the heat on Fashion Police, because it meant they got it. It meant they loved her. It meant they saw the humor."
Influences
Rivers' influences
Joan Rivers was strongly influenced by Lenny Bruce. As a female comic, Rivers felt indebted to, but also very distinct from, other female standups and comedians including Phyllis Diller (a close friend and champion), Fanny Brice, Totie Fields, Jean Carroll, Minnie Pearl, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Imogene Coca, Elaine May, Carol Burnett, and Gracie Allen. Rivers's early comedy in particular was influenced by vaudeville, Borscht Belt, and proto-feminist comedy of the early-1900s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rivers was in a comedy circuit with Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Dick Cavett. Though she counted them as peers and friends, she never felt included due to sexist practices within the industry.
Comedians influenced by Rivers
Mainstream comedians and contemporaries who have claimed that Rivers was an influence on them include: Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, Chris Hardwick, Joy Behar, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Louis C.K., and David Letterman. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy by many critics and journalists.
Work
Filmography
Discography
Bibliography
(self-help/humor)
(humor)
(autobiography)
(autobiography)
(non-fiction)
(self-help/humor)
(self-help)
(self-help)
(fiction)
(non-fiction)
(humor)
(humor)
Biography
(memoir)
(biography)
(photography)
Audiobooks
All are authored and read by Joan Rivers, except where noted.
Awards and nominations
Other honors
On July 26, 1989, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.
On March 1, 2013, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, were honored by the Ride of Fame and a double decker tour bus was dedicated to them in New York City.
Citations
General sources
External links
Joan Rivers at the TCM Movie Database
1933 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
Accidental deaths in New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
American Reform Jews
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American film producers
American health activists
American humorists
American memoirists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American satirists
American soap opera actresses
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television talk show hosts
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women film directors
American women film producers
American women memoirists
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American Zionists
Audiobook narrators
Barnard College alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Comedians from New York (state)
Connecticut College alumni
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host winners
Deaths from hypoxia
Edinburgh Comedy Festival
Film directors from New York City
Geffen Records artists
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HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
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People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Stand Up! Records artists
The Apprentice (franchise) winners
Women satirists
Writers from Brooklyn
Stand-up comedy controversies
| true |
[
"An intrinsic property is a property that an object or a thing has of itself, including its context. An extrinsic (or relational) property is a property that depends on a thing's relationship with other things. For example, mass is an intrinsic property of any physical object, whereas weight is an extrinsic property that varies depending on the strength of the gravitational field in which the respective object is placed. The question of intrinsicality and extrinsicality in empirically observable objects is a significant field of study in ontology, the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being.\n\nCriteria\nDavid Lewis offered a list of criteria that should condense the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic properties (numbers and italics added):\n\n A sentence or statement or proposition that ascribes intrinsic properties to something is entirely about that thing; whereas an ascription of extrinsic properties to something is not entirely about that thing, though it may well be about some larger whole which includes that thing as part. \n A thing has its intrinsic properties in virtue of the way that thing itself, and nothing else, is. Not so for extrinsic properties, though a thing may well have these in virtue of the way some larger whole is. \n The intrinsic properties of something depend only on that thing; whereas the extrinsic properties of something may depend, wholly or partly, on something else. \n If something has an intrinsic property, then so does any perfect duplicate of that thing; whereas duplicates situated in different surroundings will differ in their extrinsic properties.\n\nValue\nIntrinsic properties are fundamental in understanding Kantian deontological ethics, which is based upon the argument that an action should be viewed on its intrinsic value (the value of the action in itself) with regard to ethics and morality, as opposed to consequentialist utilitarian arguments that an action should be viewed by the value of its outcomes.\n\nIntrinsicism and extrinsicism\n\nIntrinsicism\nIntrinsicism is the belief that value is a non-relational characteristic of an object. This means that an object can not be valuable , good or bad, has a reference to who it is good or bad for, and without reference to the reason it is good or bad. One example of this might be the belief that certain sex acts are intrinsically evil, even if they harm no one.\n\nExtrinsicism\nExtrinsicism is the tendency to place major emphasis on external matters rather than on more profound realities. In terms of morals and ethics, it tends to stress the external observance of laws and precepts, with lesser concern for the ultimate principles underlying moral conduct.\n\nSee also\nBrute fact\nTranscendental\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on intrinsic and extrinsic properties\nThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on intrinsic and extrinsic value\n\nConcepts in metaphysics\nOntology",
"Point of reference is the intentional use of one thing to indicate something else, and may refer to:\n Reference point (disambiguation), general usage\n Frame of reference, physics usage"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos"
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?
| 1 |
What did Al Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.
|
Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
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"This team is not to be mistaken for the similarly named team The Royal Kangaroos of Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III\n\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos were a professional wrestling tag team that existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. The first incarnation of The Fabulous Kangaroos was formed when Italian Australian Al Costello teamed with Australia native Roy Heffernan and adopted an \"Ultra Australian\" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats, and the song \"Waltzing Matilda\" as their entrance music. Costello and Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.\n\nLater versions of The Kangaroos saw Al Costello team with Ray St. Clair in 1967, and then with Don Kent from 1968 until 1974. Don Kent went on to team with Bruno Bekkar, and later Johnny Heffernan (a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan) to keep The Fabulous Kangaroos name alive until 1983.\n\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos made their last appearance in 1983, but almost a decade later, the then 72-year-old Al Costello managed a team known as \"The New Fabulous Kangaroos\" in the American Independent circuit. The New Fabulous Kangaroos consisted of little known wrestlers Mickey Doyle, Denny Kass and Al Snow; of the three, only Snow went on to national and international recognition.\n\nBoth Costello and Heffernan died before The Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.\n\nCareer\n\nAl Costello and Roy Heffernan\n\"The Fabulous Kangaroos\" were the brainchild of Al Costello, who had spent the first 18 years of his wrestling career as a fairly unsuccessful singles competitor. In 1956, Costello mentioned his idea of an \"Ultra Australian\" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan, who had previously trained with Costello and became his choice for a partner. Costello and Heffernan made their debut as The Fabulous Kangaroos on 3 May 1957, for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion of Canada, in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after making their debut, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams of the promotion.\n\nAfter working in Stampede for a while The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or \"Kangaroo Men\" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Pepper Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.\n\nThe following year, The Fabulous Kangaroos won the main tag team titles in NWA New Mexico, as well as the Texas version of the NWA International Tag Team Championship. In 1960 the Kangaroos moved on to New York, where they worked for Capitol Wrestling (predecessor to the modern-day WWE). On 21 July 1960 The Fabulous Kangaroos defeated Red and Lou Bastien to claim the North East version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship (which was later known as the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship). The Bastien brothers sought revenge and regained the gold during a rematch on 8 August 1960. This time, the Bastiens' title reign only lasted 16 days when The Fabulous Kangaroos beat them again in Washington, D.C. to become two-time United States champions. Their second tenure as champions lasted almost three months, before they were defeated by Johnny Valentine and Buddy Rogers on 19 November 1960. Costello and Heffernan won the titles for a third time only a week later and carried the gold into 1961. On 11 January 1962, The Kangaroos third title reign ended when they lost to the team of Johnny Valentine and Bob Ellis. This third reign is the longest reign with this championship by any team. It was also the longest reign by any team with any tag team championship in WWF/WWWF history until exceeded by WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition on 12 May 1989. In 2016, the Kangaroos' reign was pushed down into third place by The New Day's reign with the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.\n\nAs was common in their day, The Kangaroos began to move around between territories to avoid overexposure. The team arrived in Championship Wrestling from Florida billed as NWA Florida United States Tag Team Champions. It was a tag team title they never technically won, but were instead awarded by the promoter. The Kangaroos stayed in Florida, defending against all challengers until the duo of Eddie Graham and Dick Steinborn took the United States titles from them in a match on 1 November 1961. In 1962, The Kangaroos once again traveled across the United States, working for the Midwest Wrestling Association of Ohio where they held the Ohio version of the NWA United States tag team title. They also toured Japan with the Japan Wrestling Association and were the first to hold the Japanese version of the NWA International Tag Team Championship. In 1964, Costello and Heffernan made their west coast debut, working in Los Angeles, California for the World Wrestling Association (WWA) where they beat Édouard Carpentier and Ernie Ladd for the WWA World Tag Team Championship. The Kangaroos held the titles for three months before losing them to the Torres brothers (Alberto and Ramon) on 28 April 1964.\n\nThe Kangaroos never forgot their roots, and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. While working for All-Star Wrestling, The Kangaroos were involved in a heated storyline with Don Leo Jonathan and Roy McClarty that sold-out arenas all across the territory. On 25 May 1964 The Kangaroos won the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship, and immediately had to fend off the challenges of Jonathan and McClarty. During one infamous match in Winnipeg, The Kangaroos made Stan Stasiak an \"honorary Kangaroo\" for the night (complete with bush hat and all) for a six-man tag team match against Jonathan, McClarty and Karl Gotch. During the match The Kangaroos' cheating tactics aggravated the crowd so much that the fans threw chairs at the team. The Kangaroos attempted to hide under the ring to escape the flying chairs, but rabid fans tried to light the ring apron on fire to \"smoke out\" The Kangaroos. Peace was restored before anyone got seriously hurt and Jonathan and McClarty defeated The Kangaroos for the Canadian Tag Team titles, only to lose them back to the team from \"Down Under\" less than a month later. The Fabulous Kangaroos held the Canadian Tag team titles a total of four times while working for All-Star wrestling, losing them for the final time on 17 May 1965 to the team of Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy. For the better part of a year The Kangaroos had been double champions, holding both the Canadian Tag Team titles and the All-Star version of the NWA International Tag Team titles.\n\nTheir time in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time the original Kangaroos teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy, and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.\n\nAl Costello and Ray St. Clair\nIn 1967, after having wrestled with other partners, including a stint as The Internationals with Karl Von Brauner, Costello decided that he wanted to reform The Fabulous Kangaroos. He got in touch with a friend from Great Britain, Tinker Todd, and asked him to be his new partner and reform The Fabulous Kangaroos. Todd agreed, taking the name \"Ray St. Clair\" and adopting an \"Australian\" persona. George \"Crybaby\" Cannon had managed Costello and Von Brauner when they wrestled as The Internationals, and he was brought in to be The Kangaroos new manager. Not long after Costello and St. Clair hit the circuit, they captured both gold and the hatred of the crowd, just like the original Kangaroos. A couple of months after reforming, Costello and St. Clair won the NWA Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Fred Curry and Billy Red Lyons, but lost the titles to Fred Curry and Dan Miller a few weeks later. Costello and St. Clair showed the same gift for riling up the fans as Costello and Heffernan had and even caused their own share of riots. One particular event in Cincinnati, Ohio saw the predominantly African American crowd start a riot after The Kangaroos spat in the eye of the African American Bobo Brazil during a match. The crowd rushed towards the ring when a fan fell from the balcony, causing a diversion that enabled Costello and St. Clair to escape the ring and get back to their dressing room. When fans started to break down the door to the dressing room, The Kangaroos ducked out the back, ran down an alley and hid in a half full dumpster overnight. The next morning when The Kangaroos returned to their car, they found all four tires slashed. Despite the success of the new version of The Fabulous Kangaroos, the Costello / St. Ray team did not last more than six tumultuous months. St. Clair missed his native Britain and was suffering from a debilitating knee injury that meant he had to retire from wrestling altogether.\n\nAl Costello and Don Kent\nCostello was not ready to give up on The Fabulous Kangaroos concept after St. Clair retired, and a few months later he found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of the Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, the Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions on arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation \"International Wrestling Enterprise\" (IWE) brought the Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold.\n\nTheir time in Japan was only the first of many international tours for these third generation Kangaroos; they worked all over Asia as well as in Costello's homeland of Australia. In 1969, the Kangaroos wrestled for the newly created Eastern Sports Association (ESA) out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they were once again recognized as champions on their arrival, becoming the inaugural holders of the ESA International Tag Team Championship. On 5 August 1969, the Kangaroos dropped the titles to Eastern Sports Association mainstays The Beast and Rudy Kay. In 1970, they joined Dick the Bruiser's World Wrestling Association (WWA), where they competed regularly for nearly two years. On 26 December 1970 Costello and Kent defeated WWA World Tag Team Champions Dick the Bruiser and Bill Miller to claim the tag titles. The Kangaroos used every dirty tactic to hold on to the gold for six months before losing the titles to Wilbur Snyder and Moose Cholak. On 18 June 1971, the Kangaroos regained the titles, and held them for just over two months before Wilbur Snyder and Paul Christy beat them for their straps. After leaving the WWA, Costello and Kent made a few appearances in New York for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), a promotion the original Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Roy Hefferman) had previously worked for under the company's former name, Capitol Wrestling. In one of their headline appearances at Madison Square Garden, the Kangaroos wrestled to a 45-minute time limit draw against Terry and Dory Funk, Sr.\n\nThe Kangaroos were not only stars in the wrestling world, they also made a series of popular \"celebrity baseball\" appearances in 1971–1972. At one celebrity all-star game in Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA, the Kangaroos became the stars of the celebrity team by going 7 for 8 collectively and entertaining the fans with their horseplay and comedy antics.\n\nOn 18 December 1971, The Fabulous Kangaroos defeated Ben Justice and the Stomper in the tournament finals for the new Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The Kangaroos worked for NWA Detroit for most of 1971, defending the gold until Justice and the Stomper won the titles in July 1972. By the end of 1972, the Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas’ NWA Mid-America promotion, based in the Southern United States, a promotion that Don Kent had worked for before becoming a Kangaroo. On 1 February 1973, the Kangaroos defeated \"The Heavenly Bodies\" (Don and Al Green; not to be confused with the 1990s team of the same name) to add yet another version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, to their long list of title accomplishments. The Kangaroos held that title three times between February and 22 September 1973, when they lost to the team of Lorenzo Parente and Randy Curtis. During 1973 George Cannon was replaced as the Kangaroos manager by \"Sir\" Dudley Clements.\n\nAfter a match in the Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined $50 for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury meant that Costello was unable to compete and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Don Kent returned to NWA Mid-America to work as a singles wrestler, while Costello had a full hip replacement, and was forced to retire from active competition. In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of a team known as \"The Love Brothers\" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.\n\nAfter recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at the age of 56, teaming up with Tony Charles to form yet another version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to \"Crazy\" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins. In 1977 Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, the Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977. The Kangaroos remained in the WWC till 1978, chasing, but never regaining the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.\n\nDon Kent and Bruno Bekkar\nIn 1981, Don Kent donned the bush hat and picked up the boomerang once more after not having worked as a Kangaroo since 1974, except for the short run in 1977. Costello asked Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.\n\nDon Kent and Johnny Heffernan\nAfter Bekkar went back to Australia, Kent found a new partner to create yet another version of the Fabulous Kangaroos that turned out to be the last incarnation of the team. In mid 1982, Kent teamed up with Lutte Internationale mainstay Bob Della Serra, who took the wrestling name \"Johnny Heffernan\" (or \"Bobby Heffernan\" at times) - a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk, Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion the Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. On 5 January 1983, the Kangaroos defeated Barry Windham and Ron Bass to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship. They held the titles four times between January and 13 April 1983, losing to and winning titles from such teams as Terry Allen and Scott McGhee, Terry Allen and The Midnight Rider, and Terry Allen and Brad Armstrong. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short-term replacement while he was \"away on business\". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon (kayfabe) refused to give up the Kangaroos contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. The angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline, and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Della Serra went their separate ways. Don Kent retired in 1986, but made guest appearances in the ring from time to time as late as 1992.\n\nNew Fabulous Kangaroos\nAfter retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage \"The New Fabulous Kangaroos\" in 1993 consisting of Mickey Doley and Denny Kass who worked for \"Motor City Wrestling\" (MCW). By the fall of 1993 Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow, and with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated \"Canadian Lighting\" (Otis Apollo and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy) on 29 December 1993 to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, after Al Snow had started working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up. Snow focused on his WWF career, while Costello retired for good.\n\nKangaroo legacy\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos are considered by many in the wrestling world as one of the best tag-teams in the history of wrestling. In fact, many people in the past held the mistaken belief that The Fabulous Kangaroos invented tag team wrestling, which was not true since tag team wrestling had been seen as early as 1936. The reason for this belief lies in the fact that The Kangaroos were one of the first teams to popularize tag team wrestling, and because tag teaming was often referred to as \"Australian rules\" or \"Australian tag team\". The Kangaroos themselves were not slow to play off this belief, often claiming (kayfabe) that they were such a well coordinated tag team because \"Amateur team wrestling was very popular in Australia\". The term \"Australian rules\" had been coined long before 1957 debut of The Kangaroos. Records indicate that tag team wrestling was already being referred to as \"Australian rules\" already in the mid-1940s. The Fabulous Kangaroos were among the first people in wrestling to play up the sports entertainment elements in professional wrestling; beyond being talented wrestlers, Costello especially was also very good at playing up their characters. The Kangaroos showed their \"advertising\" skills through promotional literature, which stated that The Fabulous Kangaroos had \"fashioned a razor-edged aluminum boomerang to cut the jugular of a Kodiak bear from afar\". They also frequently threw cardboard boomerangs with their name and pictures on them into the crowd as they walked to the ring. The team carried a huge Australian banner with the name \"The Fabulous Kangaroos\" on it as part of their entrance rituals as well.\n\nKangaroos today\nRoy Heffernan died on 24 September 1992 in his home in Sydney, Australia from a heart attack. Don Kent died on 14 June 1993 after a long battle with Leukemia. On 22 January 2000, the last of the original Fabulous Kangaroos died. Costello had been suffering from pneumonia, and was diagnosed with heart problems, the combination of which took his life at age 80.\n\nOnly Bruno Bekkar and Johnny Heffernan remain alive, with managers Red Berry, George Cannon and Dudley Clement having passed on as well. Ray St. Clair, whose birth name was Ramon Napolitano, died on 14 July 2013.\n\nIn 2003, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame inducted Al Costello and Roy Heffernan collectively as The Fabulous Kangaroos, the first tag team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of The Kangaroos, they were \"billed as champions on arrival\" one last time. In 2013, Costello and Heffernan was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\n\nCostello and Heffernan\nAlex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)\nInternational Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nCapitol Wrestling Corporation\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times)\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time)\nJapan Wrestling Association\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nMidwest Wrestling Association\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio Version) (1 time)\nNational Wrestling Alliance\nNWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)\nNWA All-Star Wrestling\nNWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times)\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (2 times)\nNWA New Mexico\nRocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA Western States (Amarillo)\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time)\nWorld Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame\nClass of 2003\n Western States Sports\n NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time)\nWrestling Observer Newsletter awards\nWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)\n\nCostello and St. Clair\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (1 time)\n\nCostello and Kent\nEastern Sports Association\nESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nInternational Wrestling Enterprise\nTrans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA Mid-America\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (3 times)\nWorld Wrestling Association\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nKent and Bekkar\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nWWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nKent and Heffernan\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (4 times)\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nWWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nNew Fabulous Kangaroos\nBorder City Wrestling\nBCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nMotor City Wrestling\nMCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page\n Roy Heffernan Interview\n\nIndependent promotions teams and stables\nWWE teams and stables\nProfessional wrestling in Australia\nAustralian male professional wrestlers\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum\nJapanese promotions teams and stables",
"Laurence Roy Heffernan (12 July 1925 – 24 September 1992) was an Australian professional wrestler. Roy Heffernan toured all over the world, but is most famous for being one half of the original version of the tag team the Fabulous Kangaroos (with Al Costello). The Kangaroos used an \"Ultra Australian\" gimmick complete with Boomerangs, bush hats and \"Waltzing Matilda\" as their entrance music. The first incarnation of the Kangaroos is the most famous of all the Kangaroo versions and is often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s. Costello and Heffernan are also regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling.\n\nWhen the Kangaroos broke up, Heffernan left America to return to his home of Australia. In Australia, Heffernan was involved with Australia's version of World Championship Wrestling under booker Jim Barnett where he worked as a face (good guy), the polar opposite of his time spent as a Fabulous Kangaroo. Both Heffernan and Costello died before the team was honored by being the first tag team inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003. The induction of the Fabulous Kangaroos started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.\n\nBiography\n\nStarting out\nRoy Heffernan was a native Australian, born in Lithgow NSW, and was an avid weightlifter and bodybuilder in his teens. He was trained by his father, who was also a bodybuilder, and won the Mr. Australia title before making his wrestling debut at the age of twenty. Heffernan did not have an easy time moving up the ranks in Australian pro-wrestling, as the belief at the time was that a wrestler really had to go overseas to North America and learn to be a pro before the bookers would even consider moving them up the rankings of the promotion. After working on the lower cards in Australia, Heffernan left his home country in 1953 and moved to America in the hopes of attaining more success there.\n\nFabulous Kangaroos\n\nFor years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team and even had an idea of who his partner should be in this new tag team: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago (Heffernan). The problem was that Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, so the idea remained dormant until Costello went on a tour of Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an \"Ultra Australian\" tag team to fellow wrestler and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard was good friends with Heffernan and knew that he was working in Stampede Wrestling at that point in time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and soon after, Costello was off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join up with Heffernan. Costello and Heffernan made their debut as the Fabulous Kangaroos on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after making their debut, the Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams of the promotion.\n\nAfter working in Stampede for a while, the Fabulous Kangaroos traveled across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile the crowd up with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958 the Kangaroos, or \"Kangaroo Men\" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez. The fans began to throw fruit and stones after the match ended without a decisive winner, and the promoters had to step in, turn up the lights in the arena and play the National Anthem to stop a potential riot from breaking out. Everywhere the team went, they seemed to win championships; be it the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship in Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion, or the forerunner to the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship, the North East version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.\n\nDuring their time together from 1957 until 1965, the Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles.\n\nThe Kangaroos never forgot the territory that started it all and worked in Canada off and on over the years. The team not only worked for Stampede Wrestling while in Canada, but also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Fabulous Kangaroos' 1965 run in NWA All-Star Wrestling turned out to be the last time the original Kangaroos teamed together. In June 1965, the Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States at least for a while longer.\n\nReturn to Australia\nRoy Heffernan returned to his native Australia, and became one of the main wrestlers for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (the Australian version) under promoter Jim Barnett. Heffernan retained his \"Ultra Australian\" gimmick complete with Bush hat and boomerang, but what had made him a heel (bad guy) in the United States made him a beloved face (good guy) in Australia. Heffernan's Fan Club Yearbook circa 1966 gives the following physical statistics for Roy Heffernan: neck 17.5 inches; chest 48.5 inches; waist 32.5 inches; thigh 27 inches; biceps 17.5 inches; calf 17.5 inches. He was billed in 1967 as weighing 225 lb. Costello was originally supposed to join Heffernan in Australia but it never worked out that way, leaving Costello in the United States while Heffernan wrestled as a singles wrestler. Later in his career, Heffernan became involved in the actual running of WCW before retiring in the 1980s.\n\nDeath\nRoy Heffernan died on 24 September 1992 at St George Hospital in Sydney from a heart attack. In 2003, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame inducted Roy Heffernan, along with Al Costello, as the first ever tag team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. From 2003 and forward, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but the Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first team to enter the Hall of Fame; in the tradition of the Kangaroos they were \"billed as champions on arrival\" one last time.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\nAlex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)\nInternational Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Al Costello\nCapitol Wrestling Corporation\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northwest version) (3 times) - with Al Costello\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Al Costello\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Al Costello\nInternational Wrestling Enterprise\nTrans-World Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\nJapan Wrestling Association\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Al Costello\nMidwest Wrestling Association\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version)(1 time) - with Al Costello\nMike London Promotions\nRocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Al Costello\nNational Wrestling Alliance\nNWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)\nNWA All-Star Wrestling\nNWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Al Costello\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (2 times) - with Al Costello\nNWA Western States Sports\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Al Costello1\nNWA Southwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Al Costello\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Al Costello\nPacific Northwest Wrestling\nNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Red Bastien\nWorldwide Wrestling Associates\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Al Costello\nWWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Al Costello\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame\nClass of 2003 - with Al Costello\nWrestling Observer Newsletter\nWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)\n1. Title also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling.\n\nReferences\n\n1925 births\n1992 deaths\nAustralian male professional wrestlers\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum\nSportspeople from Sydney\nStampede Wrestling alumni"
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"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler."
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C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?
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Did Al Costello and Heffernan perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week
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Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
| true |
[
"Ethel Blanche Hairston ( Wingo; May 14, 1935 – September 14, 2018) was an American professional wrestler whose ring name was Ethel Johnson. She debuted at age 16, becoming the first African-American women's champion. She was a fan favorite, billed as \"the biggest attraction to hit girl wrestling since girl wrestling began.\"\n\nProfessional wrestling career \nJohnson started her training after her sister Babs Wingo, the first African-American woman to integrate professional wrestling, in the 1950s, signing with the promoter Billy Wolfe. Their younger sister Marva Scott would later join professional wrestling as well. In 1952, Johnson, along with her sisters worked three matches including a tag match in the main event at Baltimore, Maryland, which drew the highest record crowd of 3,611 fans. By 1954, Johnson and Wingo received top billing alongside Gorgeous George, after drawing 9,000 fans at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. While touring Latin America, Johnson worked under the name Rita Valdez.\n\nJohnson was known for her athleticism, being one of the first female wrestlers to perform a standing dropkick in her matches, as well as including a variation of the flying headscissors\n\nDuring her time in wrestling, Johnson faced popular wrestlers at the time such as June Byers and Penny Banner, and even challenging Mildred Burke for her NWA World Women's Championship. Eventually, Johnson caught Stu Hart's eye and began working for his promotion Big Time Wrestling as well as wrestling at Capitol Wrestling Corporation. In her final years in wrestling, Johnson worked at American Wrestling Association, where her last match was against her sister Marva Scott, in 1976.\n\nPersonal life \nJohnson was born Ethel Blanche Wingo in Decatur, Georgia, to Gladys Chase and Clifford Wingo on May 14, 1935. Johnson had two other wrestling sisters: her older sister, Betty (ring name: Babs Wingo), and younger sister, Marva (ring name: Marva Scott).\n\nJohnson took her stage name to differentiate her from Betty, who became a professional at about the same time. They often wrestled each other, but many fans would not know that they were related. Johnson said it was every women's wrestlers' dream to perform in Madison Square Garden, but women's wrestling was banned in New York during her prime. She retired in 1977 without ever performing there.\n\nJohnson died of heart disease on September 14, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio. She was 83.\n\nFilmography\n\nChampionships and accomplishments \n Independent\n Colored Women's World Championship (3 times)\n Ohio Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Marva Scott\n Texas Colored Women's Championship (2 times)\n National Wrestling Alliance\n NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with June Byers\nWWE\nWWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2021)\n\nReferences \n\n1935 births\n2018 deaths\nAfrican-American female professional wrestlers\nAmerican female professional wrestlers\nPeople from Decatur, Georgia\nProfessional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)\nSportspeople from DeKalb County, Georgia\nStampede Wrestling alumni\nWWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees\n20th-century African-American sportspeople\n21st-century African-American people\n20th-century African-American women\n21st-century African-American women",
"is a Japanese female professional wrestler, who is working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Japanese promotion World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana. She is most well known for being half of Las Cachorras Orientales with Etsuko Mita.\n\nProfessional wrestling career\nShimoda debuted on August 5, 1987, against her future Las Cachorras Orientales partner, Etsuko Mita. Early on in her career, Shimoda formed the \"Tokyo Sweethearts\" with Manami Toyota.\n\nOn October 8, 1989, Shimoda won the AJW Junior Championship.\n\nOn August 19, 1990, Shimoda competed in a kickboxing match against Aja Kong. She lost several teeth during the match in defeat.\n\nBy 1991, the Tokyo Sweethearts had stopped teaming together regularly, however they would team off and on through the 1990s.\n\nLas Cachorras Orientales (1992–2009) \n\nIn 1992, Shimoda formed Las Cachorras Orientales(commonly known as LCO) with Etsuko Mita and Akira Hokuto. While Hokuto was an original member, she did not stay on long as a regular with the team. The team mostly wrestled in the undercard until they captured both the JWP Tag Team Championship and the UWA World Women's Tag Team Championship in March 1994. The team held both sets of titles until January 8, 1995, when they lost their JWP Tag Team Championship to Hikari Fukuoka and Mayumi Ozaki. On September 2, 1995, they vacated their UWA World Women's Tag Team Championship after a successful defense against Lioness Asuka and Jaguar Yokota.\n\nO May 11, 1996, the Tokyo Sweethearts teamed up again to take on \"Double Inoue\" of Kyoko Inoue and Takako Inoue. The match went 52 minutes with Double Inoue getting the win. On June 22, 1996, the teams re-matched with the Tokyo Sweethearts winning the WWWA World Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until January 20, 1997.\n\nPost All Japan Women's career\nShimoda left All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling with Mita in October 1997 as the promotion filed for bankruptcy for NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling. Between October 1997 and February 1998, the team made stops in Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, JDStar and Gaea Japan while creating a rivalry with Kyoko Inoue and Misae Genki in NEO. The team also stopped in JWP later that year.\n\nThe team became freelance in 1999. They wrestled multiple matches for Gaea Japan eventually joining the heel faction, SSU(Super Star Unit). The also started to appear in Arsion during Summer 1999, winning the Twin Stars of Arsion League in December 1999. They also returned to All Japan Women's during this time, capturing the WWWA Tag Titles on July 10, 1999.\n\nOn June 18, 1997, the team captured the WWWA World Tag Team Championship for the first time by defeating Tomoko Watanabe and Kumiko Maekawa, finally capturing the titles after 5 years as a team.\n\nIn 2003, Shimoda retired to work in a backstage role with AtoZ Pro-Wrestling. The retirement did not last long as by 2005, she was wrestling regularly again after AtoZ's closure.\n\nIn 2006 Shimoda moved to Mexico and began working regularly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) as well as making frequent trips to Japan to work with a number of Japanese women's promotions, often touring with other CMLL wrestlers.\n\nOn November 1, 2009, LCO teamed for the final time as Mita retired. They teamed against Kyoko Inoue and Nanae Takahashi. Mima continued to wrestle after.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\nAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling\nAJW Championship (1 time)\nAJW Junior Championship (1 time)\nAJW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Etsuko Mita\nTag League the Best (2000) – with Etsuko Mita\nArsion\nQueen of Arsion Championship (1 time)\nTwin Star of Arsion Championship (2 times) – with Etsuko Mita (1), Michiko Ohmukai (1)\nJWP Joshi Puroresu\nJWP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Etsuko Mita\nNEO Japan Ladies' Pro Wrestling\nNWA Women's Pacific/NEO Single Championship (1 time)\nTokyo Sports\nJoshi Puroresu Grand Prize (2000) – with Etsuko Mita\nUniversal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina\nReina World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Zeuxis\nUniversal Wrestling Association\nUWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Etsuko Mita\nWorld Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana\nWWWD World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kaoru\nWorld Women's Wrestling Association\nWWWA World Tag Team Championship (7 times) – with Akira Hokuto (1), Manami Toyota (1), Takako Inoue (1) Etsuko Mita (4)\n\nLuchas de Apuestas record\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1970 births\nLiving people\nJapanese expatriate sportspeople in Mexico\nJapanese female professional wrestlers\nMasked wrestlers\nSportspeople from Tokyo"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.",
"Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?",
"The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week"
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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Who were The Globetrotters?
| 3 |
Talking about Al Costello, who were The Globetrotters?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters";
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Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
| true |
[
"The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several different aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents.\n\nFunction\n\nThe Generals exist primarily as a part of the Harlem Globetrotters' act, effectively being stooges for the Globetrotters. While the Globetrotters play tricks and spectacular displays of skill for the crowd, the Generals attempt to play a \"normal\" game of basketball. The Generals' games involve playing genuine basketball at times, but also not interfering in the Globetrotters' tricks. Almost every game has ended in a resounding win for the Globetrotters. Despite their losses, the Generals' roster consists of relatively competent players. A recurring part of the act is the \"guest General\", where, for a short period, an invited person (usually a local celebrity) comes on court to play for the Generals. There can exist multiple teams of Generals simultaneously, each following different touring Globetrotters teams. \n\nWhile the Generals are closely associated with the Globetrotters, they were, for most of their history, an independent franchise owned by their founder, Louis \"Red\" Klotz, who also played on the Generals. In 2017 they were purchased from the Klotz family by Globetrotters' owners Herschend Entertainment and officially revived from a two-year hiatus.\n\nHistory\nThe Generals were created in 1952 by Louis \"Red\" Klotz, a former player for the Philadelphia Sphas, a former ABL team that became one of the Globetrotters' exhibition rivals. Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein had invited Klotz to create a squad to accompany his team on their tours, in part because the Sphas had beaten the Globetrotters on more than one occasion while serving as one of the Globetrotters' exhibition teams. With a nod to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the team was named the Washington Generals. \n\nThe Generals remained a continuous presence in the Globetrotters act from then on, but to give the illusion of variety they played under a variety of different names with changes of uniform. During the 1971–72 season, the Generals' name was alternated with the \"Boston Shamrocks\", \"New Jersey Reds\", \"Baltimore Rockets\", and \"Atlantic City Seagulls\". The team rotated between these identities for a few seasons before going back to the Generals identity full-time. In 1995 Klotz \"disbanded\" the Generals and formed the \"New York Nationals\" which again was only a nominal change.\n\nJohn Ferrari, the son-in-law of Klotz, took over as general manager of the team in 1987.\n\nAfter a 12-year hiatus, the team returned to their Generals identity on October 9, 2007, playing against the Globetrotters at the 369th Harlem Armory. The Globetrotters won 54–50. The monikers of \"International Elite\" and the \"Global Select\" were adopted prior to the 2011–12 World Tour. For the 2013–14 Harlem Globetrotters World Tour, the team took on the moniker of the \"World All-Stars\".\n\nThe Generals would occasionally play teams other than the Globetrotters. Among these games, which were competitive, they managed to record victories against the Taiwanese national team and a low-level Red Army team.\n\nIn 2015, the Harlem Globetrotters management chose to end contractual relations with the Generals organization, resulting in the Generals ceasing operations. The Generals played their last game against the Globetrotters on August 1, 2015, in Wildwood, New Jersey. Overall, the Globetrotters had defeated the Generals over 16,000 times in their combined history and winning a mere 3–6 games.\n\nFrom 2015 the Globetrotters' opposition was organised by their own management. In 2017, Herschend Family Entertainment, the owners of the Harlem Globetrotters, bought the Washington Generals from the Klotz family and revived them as an active team with Kenny Smith as general manager and Sam Worthen as coach. The Generals held a tongue-in-cheek \"draft\" where they selected various unavailable persons including LaVar Ball and Conor McGregor. As a reintroduction for the team, they were entered in ESPN's The Basketball Tournament 2017. Despite having a rare opportunity to play serious, competitive basketball, their long losing run continued with a first round loss.\n\nBeating the Harlem Globetrotters\n\nFigures vary as to exactly how often the Generals have beaten their rivals. Some reports say six, while the team's official website reports having three victories over the Globetrotters, one each in 1954, 1958 and 1971. The 1971 win is the most storied of these, and is sometimes reported as the team's sole victory.\n\nPlaying as the New Jersey Reds, they won 100–99 on January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee, ending their 2,495-game losing streak. Klotz credits the overtime win to a guard named Eddie Mahar, who was team captain. Harlem's captain, Curly Neal, did not play in this game.\n\nWhile the Globetrotters were entertaining the crowd that day, they lost track of the game and the score. They found themselves down 12 points with two minutes left to go. Forced to play normal basketball, the Globetrotters rallied but could not recover. \n\nThe Reds secured their victory when the 50-year-old Klotz hit the winning basket with seconds left. Then Meadowlark Lemon missed a shot that would have given the game back to the Globetrotters. The timekeeper tried to stop the clock but could not. When the final buzzer sounded, the crowd was dumbfounded and disappointed. Klotz described the fans' reaction: \"They looked at us like we killed Santa Claus.\"\n\nSome children in the stands cried after the loss. The Reds celebrated by dousing themselves with orange soda instead of champagne. Lemon was furious, saying, \"You lost, I didn't lose\", but still visited the opposing team’s locker room to congratulate the Reds.\n\nGenerals–Globetrotters transfers\nVery rarely Washington Generals players have been \"promoted\" to the Globetrotters. Derick \"Dizzy\" Grant was transferred in 2010, and Jonte \"Too Tall\" Hall made the transition in 2011.\n\nPaul Sturgess made the opposite transition. The former Globetrotter, after a few seasons playing for other teams, transferred back into the setup as part of the arranged opposition. The Sturgess adopts the persona of \"Cager\", a masked adversary who adopts a villainous role.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n \n\n \nHerschend Family Entertainment\nBasketball teams in the United States\nSports entertainment\nBasketball teams established in 1952",
"The Harlem Globetrotters is an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play.\n\nCreated by Abe Saperstein in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name Harlem because of its connotations as a major African-American community. Over the years they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 countries and territories, mostly against deliberately ineffective opponents, such as the Washington Generals (1953–1995) and the New York Nationals (1995–present).\n\nThe team's signature song is Brother Bones' whistled version of \"Sweet Georgia Brown\", and their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named \"Globie\". The team is currently owned by Herschend Family Entertainment.\n\nHistory\nThe Globetrotters originated on the South Side of Chicago in 1926, where all the original players were raised. The Globetrotters began as the Savoy Big Five, one of the premier attractions of the Savoy Ballroom, opened in January 1928, a basketball team of Black American players that played exhibitions before dances due to declining dance attendance. In 1928, several players left the team in a dispute. That autumn, those players, led by Tommy Brookins, formed a team called the \"Globe Trotters\" and toured southern Illinois that spring. Abe Saperstein became involved with the team as its manager and promoter. By 1929, Saperstein was touring Illinois and Iowa with his basketball team called the \"New York Harlem Globe Trotters\". Saperstein selected the name Harlem because it was then considered the center of Black American culture and the name Globetrotter to mythologize the team's international venues.\n\nThe Globetrotters were perennial participants in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, winning it in 1940. In a heavily attended matchup a few years later, the 1948 Globetrotters–Lakers game, the Globetrotters made headlines when they beat one of the best white basketball teams in the country, the Minneapolis Lakers (now the Los Angeles Lakers). The Globetrotters continued to easily win games due to Harlem monopolizing the entire talent pool of the best black basketball players in the country. Once one of the most famous teams in the country, the Globetrotters were eventually eclipsed by the rise of the National Basketball Association, particularly when NBA teams began fielding black players in the 1950s. In 1950, Harlem Globetrotter Chuck Cooper became the first black player to be drafted in the NBA by Boston and teammate Nat \"Sweetwater\" Clifton became the first black player to sign an NBA contract when the New York Knicks purchased his contract from the Globetrotters for $12,500 (), with Harlem getting $10,000 and Clifton getting $2,500.\n\nThe Globetrotters gradually worked comic routines into their act—a direction the team has credited to Reece \"Goose\" Tatum, who joined in 1941—and eventually became known more for entertainment than sports. The Globetrotters' acts often feature incredible coordination and skillful handling of one or more basketballs, such as passing or juggling balls between players, balancing or spinning balls on their fingertips, and making unusually difficult shots.\n\nIn 1952, the Globetrotters invited Louis \"Red\" Klotz to create a team to accompany them on their tours. This team, the Washington Generals (who also played under various other names), became the Globetrotters' primary opponents. The Generals are effectively stooges for the Globetrotters, with the Globetrotters handily defeating them in thousands of games.\n\nIn 1959, the Globetrotters played nine games in Moscow after Saperstein received an invitation from Vasily Grigoryevich, the director of Lenin Central Stadium. The team, which included Wilt Chamberlain, was welcomed enthusiastically by spectators and authorities, they met Premier Nikita Khrushchev and collectively received the Athletic Order of Lenin medal.\n\nHowever, according to one report, spectators were initially confused: \"A Soviet audience of 14,000 sat almost silently, as if in awe, through the first half of the game. It warmed up slightly in the second half when it realized the Trotters are more show than competition.\" The Globetrotters brought their own opponent—not the Washington Generals, but the San Francisco Chinese Basketeers. A review in Pravda stated, \"This is not basketball; it is too full of tricks\" but praised the Globetrotters' skills and suggested that \"they have some techniques to show us\".\n\nThe American press—particularly Drew Pearson—made note of the fact that the Globetrotters were paid (per game) the equivalent of $4,000 (), which could be spent only in Moscow. The games were used as evidence that U.S.–Soviet relations were improving, that Moscow was backing off its criticism of race relations inside America, and that the USSR was becoming more capitalist (Pearson suggested that the games were held because Lenin Stadium needed money).\n\nIn May 1967, New York City-based Metromedia announced that it would acquire the Globetrotters for $1 million, but the deal was never completed and later sold to George N. Gillett Jr. and formed a new company called Globetrotters Communications in 1968.\n\nNine years after the company's attempted acquisition in 1976, Metromedia announced that it would re-acquire the Globetrotters for $11 million from Globetrotter Communications.\n\nMany famous basketball players have played for the Globetrotters. Greats such as \"Wee\" Willie Gardner, Connie \"The Hawk\" Hawkins, Wilt \"The Stilt\" Chamberlain, and Nat \"Sweetwater\" Clifton later joined the NBA. The Globetrotters signed their first female player, Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard, in 1985.\n\nBecause nearly all of the team's players have been black, and as a result of the buffoonery involved in many of the Globetrotters' skits, they drew some criticism during the Civil Rights era. The players were accused by some civil-rights advocates of \"Tomming for Abe,\" a reference to Uncle Tom and owner Abe Saperstein. However, prominent civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (who would later be named an Honorary Globetrotter) came to their defense by stating, \"I think they've been a positive influence... They did not show blacks as stupid. On the contrary, they were shown as superior.\"\n\nIn 1986, as part of the spin-off of Metromedia's television stations to News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio, the company sold the Globetrotters and the Ice Capades to the Minneapolis-based International Broadcasting Corporation (owners of KTAB-TV in Abilene, Texas and controlled by Thomas Scallen) for $30 million.\n\nIn 1993, former Globetrotters player Mannie Jackson purchased the team from the International Broadcasting Corporation, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.\n\nIn 1995, Orlando Antigua became the first Hispanic player on the team. He was the first non-black player on the Globetrotters' roster since Bob Karstens played with the squad in 1942–43.\n\nWhile parts of a modern exhibition game are pre-planned, the games themselves are not fixed. While their opponents do not interfere with the Globetrotters' hijinks while on defense, they play a serious game when in possession of the ball and about 20 to 30 percent of a game is \"real.\" This once led to an infamous defeat at the hands of the Washington Generals in 1971, to the distress of the watching crowd, after the Globetrotters lost track of a big lead with their tricks and the Generals hit a game-winning buzzer-beater.\n\nIn September 2005, Shamrock Holdings purchased 80% stake in the Globetrotters.\n\nIn October 2013, Herschend Family Entertainment announced that it would acquire the Globetrotters from Shamrock Holdings.\n\nIn June 2021, the Globetrotters filed a petition to join the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an expansion franchise.\n\nCurrent roster\n\nDraft\nStarting in 2007, the Globetrotters have conducted an annual \"draft\" a few days before the NBA draft, in which they select players they feel fit the mold of a Globetrotter. Being drafted by the Globetrotters does not guarantee a spot on the team, although several drafted players have gone on to become Globetrotters: Anthony \"Ant\" Atkinson (2007), Brent Petway (2007), William \"Bull\" Bullard (2008), Tay \"Firefly\" Fisher (2008), Charlie Coley III (2009), Paul \"Tiny\" Sturgess (2011), Jacob \"Hops\" Tucker (2011), Darnell \"Spider\" Wilks (2011), Bryan \"B-Nice\" Narcisse (2012), Tyrone Davis (2013), Corey \"Thunder\" Law (2013), Tyler \"Iceman\" Inman (2014) Devan \"Beast\" Douglas (2016), and AJ \"Money\" Merriweather.\n\nOther notable draft picks by the Globetrotters include: Sun Mingming (2007), Patrick Ewing, Jr. (2008), Sonny Weems (2008), Taylor Griffin (2009), Tim Howard (2009), Mark Titus (2010), Lionel Messi (2011), Andrew Goudelock (2011), Usain Bolt (2012), Mariano Rivera (2013), Brittney Griner (2013), Johnny Manziel (2014), Landon Donovan (2014), Mo'ne Davis (2015), Dude Perfect (2015), Neymar (2016), Missy Franklin (2016), Jordan Spieth (2016), Craig Sager (2016), Gal Gadot (2017), Aaron Judge (2017), Tim Tebow (2017), Paul Pogba (2018), and Joseph Kilgore (2018).\n\nRetired numbers\nThe Globetrotters have honored eight players by retiring their numbers:\n\nIn mass media/popular culture\n\nTheatrical:\n The Harlem Globetrotters, a 1951 feature film starring Marques Haynes and other Globetrotters, also featuring Thomas Gomez, Dorothy Dandridge, Bill Walker, and Angela Clarke. Young Bill Townsend drops out of college to join the famous independent Trotter team. He also finds romance along the way. \"Goose\" Tatum and fancy dribbler Haynes were the star players of the Globetrotters at the time and Saperstein was the owner. Tatum, Haynes, Babe Pressley, Ermer Robinson, Duke Cumberland, Clarence Wilson, Pop Gates, Frank Washington, Ted Strong, and other current team members appear in the film as themselves. Also featured is a lot of actual game footage (three times against the Celtics with Tony Lavelli and Big Bob Hahn), including the \"Sweet Georgia Brown\" warm-up routine. (Along with making the film, the team toured Major League Baseball stadiums that year and went on their first tour of South America.)\n Go, Man, Go! a 1954 sequel starring Dane Clark as Abe Saperstein and Sidney Poitier as Inman Jackson.\n\nTelevision:\n On December 19, 1956, twelve members of the Globetrotters appeared as guest challengers on the TV panel show What's My Line? Clarence Wilson acted as the spokesman and was accompanied by members George \"Meadowlark\" Lemon, Charlie Hoxie, Roman Turmon, Andy Johnson, Woodrow \"Woody\" Sauldsberry, Carl Green, Leon Hillard, Willie Gardner, and others.\n Harlem Globetrotters, a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon, broadcast from September 12, 1970 to May 1973. Originally broadcast on CBS and later rerun on NBC as The Go-Go Globetrotters. The cartoon Globetrotters also guest-starred three times on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Scatman Crothers provided the voice for Meadowlark Lemon's character on the show.\n The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, a 1974 live-action Saturday morning variety show starring the Globetrotters that featured comedy skits, blackout gags, and educational segments. The show was produced by Funhouse Productions and Yongestreet Productions for CBS. The show also starred Rodney Allen Rippy and Avery Schreiber.\n The Super Globetrotters, a second animated series created by Hanna-Barbera for NBC in 1979. It featured the Globetrotters (now including new squad members James \"Twiggy\" Sanders, Nate Branch, and Louis \"Sweet Lou\" Dunbar) as undercover superheroes who would transform themselves by entering magic portable lockers carried in \"Sweet Lou\" Dunbar's afro or in a basketball-shaped medallion. Although the Super Globetrotters would first attempt to take on the villain with standard comical heroics, things would almost always be settled with a basketball game.\n In a 1979 episode of The White Shadow, the Globetrotters appear wherein Coach Reeves convinces the team to help him send his basketball team a reality check about overconfidence and underestimating their opponents as a result of a winning streak that got to his players' heads. The Globetrotters returned in season three (1980) when star player Warren Coolidge convinced that his basketball ability would preclude his need to finish high school, considers dropping out of school and trying out for the Globetrotters. After failing miserably in his tryout, Coolidge is persuaded to finish his education before giving any thought to a basketball career.\n The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, a 1981 made-for-TV film featured the Globetrotters alongside Bob Denver and the rest of the cast of Gilligan's Island. The film's plot follows the first animated series' formula to a degree with a conflict that ends with an unusual basketball game against an opposing team made up of robots. The Globetrotters decide to play with standard moves in the first half, which the robots are able to counter until Gilligan unwittingly comments that they have not done any fancy tricks. This makes the Professor advise the team to use their comedic style of play to win, which hopelessly confuses the machines. However, a couple of Globetrotters suffer injuries, and the team needs the help of Gilligan and Skipper to substitute.\n In \"Hoopla\" (1984), an episode of the television series The Love Boat, the Globetrotters are on a cruise and challenged the crew to a game in the dining room.\n In \"Homie the Clown,\" an episode of the animated series The Simpsons, Krusty the Clown bets all the money he earned franchising his name against the Globetrotters in a game, saying that he \"thought the Generals were due!\" He then shouts \"That game was fixed! They used a freakin' ladder for God's sake!\"\n The animated series Futurama features several episodes in which the Harlem Globetrotters appear as brilliant scientists as well as basketball players living on another planet, the Globetrotter Homeworld. Ironically, the Harlem Globetrotters react harshly to anyone who \"laughs at their antics\" as evidenced in the episode \"Time Keeps On Slippin'\" (2001).\n The Globetrotters appeared in the 2000 comedy Little Nicky with Adam Sandler, wherein they are shown losing to the Washington Generals, which is caused by one of Nicky's demonic brothers.\n Harlem Globetrotters: The Team that Changed the World, a 2005 documentary featuring interviews with the Globetrotters, NBA coaches, and fans such as Samuel L. Jackson, Barack Obama, Phil Jackson, and Henry Kissinger—himself an honorary Globetrotter—and including photos of the Globetrotters with Pope John Paul II.\nIn the 6th episode of Hell’s Kitchen season 5, the Globetrotters made a special guest appearance teaching a young boy a few basketball tricks during his bar mitzvah.\nIn The Amazing Race: season 15 (2009), Herbert \"Flight Time\" Lang and Nathaniel \"Big Easy\" Lofton participated, finishing fourth place. They returned for season 18 (2011), which is subtitled \"Unfinished Business,\" featuring fan-favorite teams who lost the competition because of various circumstances. The pair finished second overall. They also returned for season 24 (2014), dubbed an \"All Star\" season, featuring some of the shows fan favorites, this time finishing sixth.\n As part of the cross-promotion of The Amazing Race, Lang and Lofton also appeared on CBS Daytime's game show The Price Is Right to model prizes (a Sport Court basketball court) and present a showcase.\n In 2009 and 2010,<ref>{{IMDb title| id=1931370| title= 77th McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade (2010) (TV)}}</ref> members of the Harlem Globetrotters appeared on the nationally televised McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago.\n In 2010, five members of the Globetrotters appeared on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, raising money for charity.\n On December 5, 2010, in a game televised on ESPN2 against the Washington Generals from HP Field House at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, the game saw several landmark events occur. A four-point shot may be scored from the four-point circle away from the basket, with three minutes or less to go in any quarter. A penalty box was introduced as the price to be paid for any 'funny business' by a player. The Globetrotters made the first, and most, of the four-point shots in the game. All of the penalties in this game were assessed to the Globetrotters. The visiting Globetrotters went on to beat the Generals 104–98 in this historical game of firsts.\n Three members of the Globetrotters appear in the \"Harlem NY\" episode (2011) of Man v. Food Nation, in which they have to defeat a spicy two-pound barbecue sandwich in 15 minutes.\n Special K Daley, Ant Atkinson, and Blenda Rodriguez of the Globetrotters made a guest appearance in the October 18, 2011 episode of Sesame Street, in which they talk with the Muppet Elmo about the number 3.\n In 2012, the Globetrotters made a special guest appearance on Disney XD 's Kickin' It, in the episode \"Eddie Cries Uncle.\"\n Three members of the Globetrotters appeared in a February 28, 2012 episode of the Blendtec online video series Will It Blend?, wherein they help Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson and his Uncle Floyd blend miniature basketballs, glitter dust, a whistle, and a bottle of Gatorade. The team then pour the mixture into a bucket, magically turning it into confetti, which they throw on Dickson.\n Globetrotter Bull Bullard competed on seasons four, five and six on American Ninja Warrior. In season four, he advanced to the finals but timed out on the first stage of the finals. Bullard competed on two additional seasons.\n Three members of the Harlem Globetrotters visited North Korea alongside Dennis Rodman in 2013, as seen in the HBO series Vice, becoming some of the first Americans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.\n On May 26, 2015, the Globetrotters appeared in the series premiere of I Can Do That.\n Three members of the Harlem Globetrotters appeared in the Dog with a Blog episode \"Cat with a Blog.\"\n Five of the Globetrotters appeared as guest stars in the Mutt & Stuff episode \"Basketball Dogs vs. The Harlem Globetrotters\" on August 19, 2016.\n On December 7, 2016, the Globetrotters appeared on The Goldbergs. On March 19, 2018, Seth MacFarlane featured the Harlem Globetrotters in an American Dad! episode called \"Klaustastrophe.tv.\"\n\nVideo games\n In 1979, the Bally Manufacturing Corporation produced a coin operated, commercial pinball machine titled the Harlem Globetrotters on Tour. The pinball machine used solid state electronics and 14,550 units were produced.\n Harlem Globetrotters: World Tour'', a video game for the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS\n\nHonorary members\nTen people have been officially named as honorary members of the team:\nHenry Kissinger (1976)\nBob Hope (1977)\nKareem Abdul-Jabbar (1989)\nWhoopi Goldberg (1990)\nNelson Mandela (1996)\nJackie Joyner-Kersee (1999)\nPope John Paul II (2000) – Press agent Lee Solters arranged a ceremony orchestrated in front of a crowd of 50,000 in Saint Peter's Square in which the Pope was recognized as an honorary Globetrotter.\nJesse Jackson (2001) \nPope Francis (2015)\n\nRobin Roberts (2015)\nIn addition, Bill Cosby (1972) and Magic Johnson (2003) were each signed to honorary $1-a-year lifetime contracts with the Globetrotters. When Cosby's nominal association with the team was the subject of criticism following sexual assault allegations, the Globetrotters stated that they had had no association with him for decades.\n\nBibliography\n \n Retitled version of the above book, to coincide with the Go Man Go (film).\n Updated version of two previous books.\n \n \n \n \n \"Ready-To-Read\", Educational Book series featuring the Harlem Globetrotters\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Harlem Globetrotters Official website\n Interview with Billy Ray Hobley\n Basketball Hall of Fame profile\n Harlem Globetrotters PR in Ireland\nVoices of Oklahoma interview with Marques Haynes. First person interview conducted on December 28, 2011, with Marques Haynes, former member of the Harlem Globetrotters.\n\"In Black America; The Harlem Globetrotters 1985,\" 1985-03-06, KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC\n\n \n1926 establishments in Illinois\narticles containing video clips\nbasketball teams established in 1926\nbasketball teams in Chicago\nbasketball teams in New York City\nHarlem\nHerschend Family Entertainment\nMetromedia\nNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees\nsports entertainment\nsports in Manhattan"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.",
"Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?",
"The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week",
"Who were The Globetrotters?",
"Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as \"The Globetrotters\";"
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
|
How long did Costello wrestle under the name "The Globetrotters"?
| 4 |
How long did Al Costello wrestle under the name "The Globetrotters"?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
|
Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
| true |
[
"The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several different aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents.\n\nFunction\n\nThe Generals exist primarily as a part of the Harlem Globetrotters' act, effectively being stooges for the Globetrotters. While the Globetrotters play tricks and spectacular displays of skill for the crowd, the Generals attempt to play a \"normal\" game of basketball. The Generals' games involve playing genuine basketball at times, but also not interfering in the Globetrotters' tricks. Almost every game has ended in a resounding win for the Globetrotters. Despite their losses, the Generals' roster consists of relatively competent players. A recurring part of the act is the \"guest General\", where, for a short period, an invited person (usually a local celebrity) comes on court to play for the Generals. There can exist multiple teams of Generals simultaneously, each following different touring Globetrotters teams. \n\nWhile the Generals are closely associated with the Globetrotters, they were, for most of their history, an independent franchise owned by their founder, Louis \"Red\" Klotz, who also played on the Generals. In 2017 they were purchased from the Klotz family by Globetrotters' owners Herschend Entertainment and officially revived from a two-year hiatus.\n\nHistory\nThe Generals were created in 1952 by Louis \"Red\" Klotz, a former player for the Philadelphia Sphas, a former ABL team that became one of the Globetrotters' exhibition rivals. Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein had invited Klotz to create a squad to accompany his team on their tours, in part because the Sphas had beaten the Globetrotters on more than one occasion while serving as one of the Globetrotters' exhibition teams. With a nod to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the team was named the Washington Generals. \n\nThe Generals remained a continuous presence in the Globetrotters act from then on, but to give the illusion of variety they played under a variety of different names with changes of uniform. During the 1971–72 season, the Generals' name was alternated with the \"Boston Shamrocks\", \"New Jersey Reds\", \"Baltimore Rockets\", and \"Atlantic City Seagulls\". The team rotated between these identities for a few seasons before going back to the Generals identity full-time. In 1995 Klotz \"disbanded\" the Generals and formed the \"New York Nationals\" which again was only a nominal change.\n\nJohn Ferrari, the son-in-law of Klotz, took over as general manager of the team in 1987.\n\nAfter a 12-year hiatus, the team returned to their Generals identity on October 9, 2007, playing against the Globetrotters at the 369th Harlem Armory. The Globetrotters won 54–50. The monikers of \"International Elite\" and the \"Global Select\" were adopted prior to the 2011–12 World Tour. For the 2013–14 Harlem Globetrotters World Tour, the team took on the moniker of the \"World All-Stars\".\n\nThe Generals would occasionally play teams other than the Globetrotters. Among these games, which were competitive, they managed to record victories against the Taiwanese national team and a low-level Red Army team.\n\nIn 2015, the Harlem Globetrotters management chose to end contractual relations with the Generals organization, resulting in the Generals ceasing operations. The Generals played their last game against the Globetrotters on August 1, 2015, in Wildwood, New Jersey. Overall, the Globetrotters had defeated the Generals over 16,000 times in their combined history and winning a mere 3–6 games.\n\nFrom 2015 the Globetrotters' opposition was organised by their own management. In 2017, Herschend Family Entertainment, the owners of the Harlem Globetrotters, bought the Washington Generals from the Klotz family and revived them as an active team with Kenny Smith as general manager and Sam Worthen as coach. The Generals held a tongue-in-cheek \"draft\" where they selected various unavailable persons including LaVar Ball and Conor McGregor. As a reintroduction for the team, they were entered in ESPN's The Basketball Tournament 2017. Despite having a rare opportunity to play serious, competitive basketball, their long losing run continued with a first round loss.\n\nBeating the Harlem Globetrotters\n\nFigures vary as to exactly how often the Generals have beaten their rivals. Some reports say six, while the team's official website reports having three victories over the Globetrotters, one each in 1954, 1958 and 1971. The 1971 win is the most storied of these, and is sometimes reported as the team's sole victory.\n\nPlaying as the New Jersey Reds, they won 100–99 on January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee, ending their 2,495-game losing streak. Klotz credits the overtime win to a guard named Eddie Mahar, who was team captain. Harlem's captain, Curly Neal, did not play in this game.\n\nWhile the Globetrotters were entertaining the crowd that day, they lost track of the game and the score. They found themselves down 12 points with two minutes left to go. Forced to play normal basketball, the Globetrotters rallied but could not recover. \n\nThe Reds secured their victory when the 50-year-old Klotz hit the winning basket with seconds left. Then Meadowlark Lemon missed a shot that would have given the game back to the Globetrotters. The timekeeper tried to stop the clock but could not. When the final buzzer sounded, the crowd was dumbfounded and disappointed. Klotz described the fans' reaction: \"They looked at us like we killed Santa Claus.\"\n\nSome children in the stands cried after the loss. The Reds celebrated by dousing themselves with orange soda instead of champagne. Lemon was furious, saying, \"You lost, I didn't lose\", but still visited the opposing team’s locker room to congratulate the Reds.\n\nGenerals–Globetrotters transfers\nVery rarely Washington Generals players have been \"promoted\" to the Globetrotters. Derick \"Dizzy\" Grant was transferred in 2010, and Jonte \"Too Tall\" Hall made the transition in 2011.\n\nPaul Sturgess made the opposite transition. The former Globetrotter, after a few seasons playing for other teams, transferred back into the setup as part of the arranged opposition. The Sturgess adopts the persona of \"Cager\", a masked adversary who adopts a villainous role.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n \n\n \nHerschend Family Entertainment\nBasketball teams in the United States\nSports entertainment\nBasketball teams established in 1952",
"Louis \"Babe\" Pressley (1916-1965) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Chicago Studebaker Flyers. He was also a long-time player for the Harlem Globetrotters. Pressley signed with the Globetrotters in 1937 until 1958. Pressley was key in double teaming George Mikan, when the Globetrotters beat the Lakers. He was inducted into the Cleveland Hall of Fame in 1976. Pressley was recognized as an athletic great in an article concerning Abe Saperstein.\n\nReferences\n\n1916 births\n1965 deaths\nAmerican men's basketball players\nBasketball players from Cleveland\nChicago Studebaker Flyers players\nGuards (basketball)\nHarlem Globetrotters players"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.",
"Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?",
"The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week",
"Who were The Globetrotters?",
"Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as \"The Globetrotters\";",
"How long did Costello wrestle under the name \"The Globetrotters\"?",
"on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming."
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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Where did Costello move on to after leaving the Globetrotters?
| 5 |
Where did Al Costello move on to after leaving the wrestlig team The Globetrotters?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee.
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Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
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[
"Marques Haynes (March 10, 1926 – May 22, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders. According to the 1988 film Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic, Haynes could dribble the ball as many as 348 times a minute.\n\nEarly playing days\nAs a child, Haynes learned to dribble a basketball in the dirt yard of his home. A native of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, he attended Booker T. Washington High School and received a $25 church scholarship to play basketball for Langston University, where he attended from 1942 to 1946. During his time with the Langston Lions, the team racked up a winning record of 112–3, including a 59-game winning streak.\n\nIn a February 1945 conference tournament game, Haynes showed off his dribbling skills for more than two minutes, running down the clock on a solid lead to ridicule an opponent, Southern University, which had run up the score against an inferior team (Sam Huston College, later Huston–Tillotson University, coached by a young Jackie Robinson) in a previous round. Haynes' own coach, the legendary Zip Gayles, threatened to kick him off the team for his showboating display, but it got an immense response from the crowd at the game.\n\nIn 1946, Langston was invited to play an exhibition game against the Globetrotters in Oklahoma City. In that game, Haynes led Langston to a 4-point win, catching the eye of team owner Abe Saperstein in the process. He was invited to join the Globetrotters, and, after completing his degree, began his long professional career. Prior to joining the Globetrotters, Haynes briefly played for the Kansas City Stars of the Black Professional Basketball League.\n\nTenure with the Harlem Globetrotters\nHaynes played with the Globetrotters from 1947 to 1953. One of the exhibition games in which he played was the famous game in West Berlin on August 22, 1951, where a landmark 75,000 people were recorded in attendance—although Haynes later insisted the turnout was closer to 90,000—and Haynes met track star Jesse Owens, with whom he roomed on the tour. He also toured South America with the Globetrotters and played a series of exhibition games against some of the top college basketball teams in the United States.\n\nIn 1953, Haynes left the Globetrotters after an acrimonious split with Abe Saperstein, the team's owner. After quitting the team, he turned down a $35,000 a year offer from the Philadelphia Warriors that would have made him the second-highest paid player in the NBA to found his own barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians, after finding out that Saperstein was a part-owner of the Warriors. He also received an offer to play for the Minneapolis Lakers in 1955, but he turned down that opportunity as well. Despite a series of legal battles with Saperstein, Haynes attended his funeral in 1966, although he later joked he was only there to \"make sure he didn't jump out of the casket\".\n\nHaynes later rejoined the Globetrotters as a player and coach in 1972. During his second stint with the team, he founded a clothing company in 1973, through which he met his wife Joan, a model. He was a regular on the 1974–75 The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine TV show. After leaving the Globetrotters again in 1979, he played for Meadowlark Lemon's Bucketeers, the Harlem Wizards, and a revitalized incarnation of his old Harlem Magicians.\n\nBy the end of his playing career, Haynes was estimated to have played in at least 12,000 games and visited more than 100 countries.\n\nIn retirement\nHaynes retired in 1992 after a 46-year professional career, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, the first Globetrotter to be so honored. On January 5, 2001, he received his \"Legends\" ring from the Harlem Globetrotters in Chicago. The Globetrotters also retired his #20 jersey in his honor.\n\nHaynes spent his twilight years in Plano, Texas, where he and his wife moved in the mid-1990s to be closer to their daughters. His old team, the Globetrotters, \"pulled strings\" to get him a ticket to the 2010 NBA All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas. In 2011, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. That year, he also joined the staff of the Texas Legends, a farm team for the Dallas Mavericks. At the time, he told the press that, even at the age of 85, \"Basketball is constantly on my mind.\"\n\nDeath\nHaynes died at the age of 89 on May 22, 2015, in Plano, Texas. His death was stated to be of natural causes.\n\nLegacy\nHaynes was considered to be among the greatest ballhandlers who ever lived. Wilt Chamberlain once said, \"What he did was something that I could never do, and I could do almost everything on the basketball court.\" His game influenced players such as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich, and Fred \"Curly\" Neal. He has been described as one of the best basketball players never to compete in the NBA.\n\nHaynes was known for his catchphrase, \"I'm Marques Haynes, I'll show you how!\" He was also father-in-law to Dallas Cowboys great Drew Pearson.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Haynes, Marques\nVoices of Oklahoma interview with Marques Haynes. First person interview conducted on December 28, 2011, with Marques Haynes. \n Marques Haynes Memorial Foundation\n\n1926 births\n2015 deaths\nAfrican-American basketball players\nAmerican men's basketball players\nBasketball executives\nBasketball players from Oklahoma\nHarlem Globetrotters coaches\nHarlem Globetrotters players\nLangston Lions basketball players\nNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees\nNational Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees\nSportspeople from Plano, Texas\n20th-century African-American sportspeople\n21st-century African-American people",
"The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several different aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents.\n\nFunction\n\nThe Generals exist primarily as a part of the Harlem Globetrotters' act, effectively being stooges for the Globetrotters. While the Globetrotters play tricks and spectacular displays of skill for the crowd, the Generals attempt to play a \"normal\" game of basketball. The Generals' games involve playing genuine basketball at times, but also not interfering in the Globetrotters' tricks. Almost every game has ended in a resounding win for the Globetrotters. Despite their losses, the Generals' roster consists of relatively competent players. A recurring part of the act is the \"guest General\", where, for a short period, an invited person (usually a local celebrity) comes on court to play for the Generals. There can exist multiple teams of Generals simultaneously, each following different touring Globetrotters teams. \n\nWhile the Generals are closely associated with the Globetrotters, they were, for most of their history, an independent franchise owned by their founder, Louis \"Red\" Klotz, who also played on the Generals. In 2017 they were purchased from the Klotz family by Globetrotters' owners Herschend Entertainment and officially revived from a two-year hiatus.\n\nHistory\nThe Generals were created in 1952 by Louis \"Red\" Klotz, a former player for the Philadelphia Sphas, a former ABL team that became one of the Globetrotters' exhibition rivals. Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein had invited Klotz to create a squad to accompany his team on their tours, in part because the Sphas had beaten the Globetrotters on more than one occasion while serving as one of the Globetrotters' exhibition teams. With a nod to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the team was named the Washington Generals. \n\nThe Generals remained a continuous presence in the Globetrotters act from then on, but to give the illusion of variety they played under a variety of different names with changes of uniform. During the 1971–72 season, the Generals' name was alternated with the \"Boston Shamrocks\", \"New Jersey Reds\", \"Baltimore Rockets\", and \"Atlantic City Seagulls\". The team rotated between these identities for a few seasons before going back to the Generals identity full-time. In 1995 Klotz \"disbanded\" the Generals and formed the \"New York Nationals\" which again was only a nominal change.\n\nJohn Ferrari, the son-in-law of Klotz, took over as general manager of the team in 1987.\n\nAfter a 12-year hiatus, the team returned to their Generals identity on October 9, 2007, playing against the Globetrotters at the 369th Harlem Armory. The Globetrotters won 54–50. The monikers of \"International Elite\" and the \"Global Select\" were adopted prior to the 2011–12 World Tour. For the 2013–14 Harlem Globetrotters World Tour, the team took on the moniker of the \"World All-Stars\".\n\nThe Generals would occasionally play teams other than the Globetrotters. Among these games, which were competitive, they managed to record victories against the Taiwanese national team and a low-level Red Army team.\n\nIn 2015, the Harlem Globetrotters management chose to end contractual relations with the Generals organization, resulting in the Generals ceasing operations. The Generals played their last game against the Globetrotters on August 1, 2015, in Wildwood, New Jersey. Overall, the Globetrotters had defeated the Generals over 16,000 times in their combined history and winning a mere 3–6 games.\n\nFrom 2015 the Globetrotters' opposition was organised by their own management. In 2017, Herschend Family Entertainment, the owners of the Harlem Globetrotters, bought the Washington Generals from the Klotz family and revived them as an active team with Kenny Smith as general manager and Sam Worthen as coach. The Generals held a tongue-in-cheek \"draft\" where they selected various unavailable persons including LaVar Ball and Conor McGregor. As a reintroduction for the team, they were entered in ESPN's The Basketball Tournament 2017. Despite having a rare opportunity to play serious, competitive basketball, their long losing run continued with a first round loss.\n\nBeating the Harlem Globetrotters\n\nFigures vary as to exactly how often the Generals have beaten their rivals. Some reports say six, while the team's official website reports having three victories over the Globetrotters, one each in 1954, 1958 and 1971. The 1971 win is the most storied of these, and is sometimes reported as the team's sole victory.\n\nPlaying as the New Jersey Reds, they won 100–99 on January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee, ending their 2,495-game losing streak. Klotz credits the overtime win to a guard named Eddie Mahar, who was team captain. Harlem's captain, Curly Neal, did not play in this game.\n\nWhile the Globetrotters were entertaining the crowd that day, they lost track of the game and the score. They found themselves down 12 points with two minutes left to go. Forced to play normal basketball, the Globetrotters rallied but could not recover. \n\nThe Reds secured their victory when the 50-year-old Klotz hit the winning basket with seconds left. Then Meadowlark Lemon missed a shot that would have given the game back to the Globetrotters. The timekeeper tried to stop the clock but could not. When the final buzzer sounded, the crowd was dumbfounded and disappointed. Klotz described the fans' reaction: \"They looked at us like we killed Santa Claus.\"\n\nSome children in the stands cried after the loss. The Reds celebrated by dousing themselves with orange soda instead of champagne. Lemon was furious, saying, \"You lost, I didn't lose\", but still visited the opposing team’s locker room to congratulate the Reds.\n\nGenerals–Globetrotters transfers\nVery rarely Washington Generals players have been \"promoted\" to the Globetrotters. Derick \"Dizzy\" Grant was transferred in 2010, and Jonte \"Too Tall\" Hall made the transition in 2011.\n\nPaul Sturgess made the opposite transition. The former Globetrotter, after a few seasons playing for other teams, transferred back into the setup as part of the arranged opposition. The Sturgess adopts the persona of \"Cager\", a masked adversary who adopts a villainous role.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n \n\n \nHerschend Family Entertainment\nBasketball teams in the United States\nSports entertainment\nBasketball teams established in 1952"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.",
"Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?",
"The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week",
"Who were The Globetrotters?",
"Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as \"The Globetrotters\";",
"How long did Costello wrestle under the name \"The Globetrotters\"?",
"on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.",
"Where did Costello move on to after leaving the Globetrotters?",
"Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee."
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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What did Costello accomplish after moving near Nashville?
| 6 |
What did Al Costello accomplish after moving near Nashville?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months.
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Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
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[
"Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is the 2009 studio album by Elvis Costello. It was recorded in Nashville with American songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett, and released on 9 June 2009 on the Hear Music label. The album features bluegrass, Americana and country music along with Costello's familiar garrulous lyrics.\n\nSecret, Profane & Sugarcane entered the UK album charts at number 71, where it spent one week before dropping out of the top 100. It was far more successful in the US, when it charted at number 13 on the Billboard 200.\n\nThe artwork was designed by comic strip artist Tony Millionaire.\n\nBackground\nIn the albums before Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Costello had experimented with various styles of music including jazz, classical and others. For this album, Costello returned to an acoustic band set-up for the first time since 1986's King of America album. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in three days, Costello's 29th studio album was released on Starbucks' Hear Music label to generally good critical acclaim.\n\nCritical response\n\nCritics looked upon Secret, Profane & Sugarcane in a generally very favourable way with some exceptions. Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen said that Costello was \"in one of his comfort zones\" and had made a \"tight, uncluttered\" album. Bud Scoppa, reviewing the album for Uncut, gave it a four-star rating, saying it was a \"rootsy beauty\" and \"...his most engaging album in a very long time\". In a more dismissive review, Pitchfork Media gave the album a 3.8 out of 10, and called the album \"yet another entry in Costello's string of gestural albums\"\n.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nThe following people contributed to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane:\n\nElvis Costello – acoustic guitar, vocals\nT Bone Burnett – electric guitar, production\nJeff Taylor – accordion\nMike Compton – mandolin\nDennis Crouch – double bass\nJerry Douglas – dobro\nStuart Duncan – banjo, fiddle\nEmmylou Harris – harmony vocals\nJim Lauderdale – harmony vocals\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \nOfficial Elvis Costello website\n\n2009 albums\nElvis Costello albums\nAlbums produced by Elvis Costello\nAlbums produced by T Bone Burnett\n\nja:キング・オブ・アメリカ",
"\"New Lace Sleeves\" is a song written by new wave musician Elvis Costello and performed by Costello and the Attractions for his 1981 album Trust. The first version of the song was written by Costello in 1974 and featured post-war themed lyrics that were largely scrapped in the final recording. In the final version of the song, Costello included lyrics about seduction and power. Musically, the song was performed at a slower tempo and features a band performance praised by Costello. Pete Thomas notably performed a drum beat inspired by songs from Devo and Stevie Wonder.\n\n\"New Lace Sleeves\" was released on Trust as an album track and did not get released as a single. Since its release, the song has appeared on numerous compilations and has been praised by critics as a highlight from Trust. The track has also made multiple appearances in Costello's live performances.\n\nBackground\nThe first version of \"New Lace Sleeves\" was written by Costello in 1974. This early draft was entitled \"From Kansas to Berlin\" and was \"a big, grand song about postwar life\" according to Costello. Costello saved the song's lyrics in notebooks for years before returning to them on his 1981 album Trust. The only surviving lyric from the original draft was \"When are they going to stop all of these victory processions?\"\n\nAccording to Costello, \"the carnal comedy in ['New Lace Sleeves'], all the embarrassment of the morning after\" was not present in the original draft of the song. As he explained in his autobiography Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, \"If the tone of the first draft had been a little pious and even moralistic, I wasn't feeling nearly so high-minded by 1980\". Costello also cited what he characterized as the British press' love of scandal and said, \"It also was about class and control. People used to say Margaret Thatcher held her Cabinet with some sort of sexual magnetism. Power is seductive\".\n\nMusic\n\"New Lace Sleeves\" was described by Costello as \"almost like dub reggae\". Costello also emphasized the importance of the song's slower speed, saying, \"Some of the best things the Attractions did, like this one, were at slower tempos. It's a myth that it's all about speed and power. ... We had to be exhausted to play like that. We had to drain ourselves of the impulse to play fast\". Additionally, Costello highlighted how \"the fact that the music was slinky suited the words\".\n\nCostello described \"New Lace Sleeves\" as \"what I think of as [the Attractions'] most original ensemble performance\" and \"one of the greatest Attractions performances\". The song notably features a drum pattern by Pete Thomas that was inspired by Devo's cover of \"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction\" and Stevie Wonder's \"Superstition\". Thomas recalled, \"[Producer] Nick Lowe was standing by the drums while we were trying things out and said, 'What about something like 'Satisfaction{{}}—that Devo thing. And I probably did something, and Nick said, 'Do the snare there, the hi-hat there...' and then I had to make sense of it. It’s 'Satisfaction' by Devo into 'Superstition', and it doesn't sound anything like either\".\n\nRelease and reception\n\"New Lace Sleeves\" was released on Costello's fifth album, Trust, in 1981. The song was not released as a single. Since its initial release, \"New Lace Sleeves\" has appeared on multiple compilation albums, including Girls Girls Girls, The Very Best of Elvis Costello, and The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years.\n\n\"New Lace Sleeves\" has received critical acclaim and has been named by some critics as one of the highlights of Trust. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone noted the song as well as \"Watch Your Step\" as \"the album's undisputed twin highlights\", while the Rolling Stone Album Guide described \"New Lace Sleeves\" as a \"great song\" where Costello \"finally comes clean about his woman problems\". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the track a \"highlight\" of Trust and Blender praised Costello's \"peerless acid tongue\" on the song. Jim Beviglia of American Songwriter ranked \"New Lace Sleeves\" as the eighth best Elvis Costello song ever, calling the song the \"towering peak\" of Trust and \"a magnificent song on which he was clearly more inspired than impaired\".\n\nLive performances\n\"New Lace Sleeves\" often appears in Costello's live setlist as one of his deeper cuts. Costello performed the song on Tomorrow with Tom Snyder in 1981, along with \"Watch Your Step\". A life performance from a 1981 show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia has been uploaded by Paste Magazine''.\n\nReferences\nCitations\n\nSources\n\nElvis Costello songs\n1981 songs\nSongs written by Elvis Costello\nSong recordings produced by Nick Lowe"
] |
[
"Al Costello",
"Between Kangaroos",
"What did Costello do while he was away from the Kangaroos?",
"Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler.",
"Did they perform well during their time in World Championship Wrestling?",
"The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week",
"Who were The Globetrotters?",
"Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as \"The Globetrotters\";",
"How long did Costello wrestle under the name \"The Globetrotters\"?",
"on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.",
"Where did Costello move on to after leaving the Globetrotters?",
"Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee.",
"What did Costello accomplish after moving near Nashville?",
"In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months."
] |
C_632ce2537d3e4c8194a2768132ed85f2_0
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Did Costello ever go back to the Kangaroos?
| 7 |
Did Al Costello ever go back to the Kangaroos after his career in the wrestling?
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Al Costello
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Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming. Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner. After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.
Costello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Costello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on "Johnny Heffernan" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.
Costello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Early life
Costa was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion "Basher Bonas", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name "Al Costello", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.
Wrestling career
Al Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as "The Man of a Thousand Holds" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.
Fabulous Kangaroos
For years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an "Ultra Australian" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as "The Fabulous Kangaroos" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.
After working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or "Kangaroo Men" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.
Between 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.
The Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.
Between Kangaroos
Heffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as "The Globetrotters"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.
Costello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a "German Nazi" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of "Playboy" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as "The Internationals"; the team was later managed by George "Crybaby" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.
After the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.
Kangaroos once more
In 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation "International Wrestling Enterprise" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).
The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.
After a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.
Managing
In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as "The Love Brothers" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.
After recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.
Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to "Crazy" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.
In 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.
Still a Kangaroo
In 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.
Bekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was "away on business". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for "Motor City Wrestling" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated "Canadian Lighting" (Otis Apollo and "Irish" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and "Irish" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.
Death
On 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were "billed as champions on arrival" one last time.
Championships and accomplishments
Alex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)
International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Capitol Wrestling Corporation
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan
Cauliflower Alley Club
Other honoree (1994)
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Eastern Sports Association
ESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet
International Wrestling Enterprise
Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Japan Wrestling Association
NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Midwest Wrestling Association
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
Mike London Promotions
Rocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan
NWA Big Time Wrestling
NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)
NWA Detroit
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)
NWA Mid-America
NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)
New Zealand Wrestling Union
NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan
Western States Sports
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Association
WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan
World Wrestling Council
WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan
References
External links
New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page
Roy Heffernan Interview
1919 births
2000 deaths
Australian male professional wrestlers
Italian emigrants to Australia
Italian male professional wrestlers
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sportspeople from the Province of Messina
Stampede Wrestling alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida
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"Giacomo Costa (14 December 1919 – 22 January 2000) was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed \"The Man of a Thousand Holds\" because of his innovative and very technical style.\n\nCostello was the creator and original member of the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos, whose \"Ultra Australian\" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and the song \"Waltzing Matilda\" as their entrance music, existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. Costello was either an active wrestler, or a manager in all versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos. He and Roy Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.\n\nCostello later formed other versions of The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and Tony Charles. He also managed the team of Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar and later on \"Johnny Heffernan\" under The Fabulous Kangaroos name.\n\nCostello officially retired from wrestling in 1983 but still made a few brief returns to the ring after that. In 1993, he managed The New Fabulous Kangaroos (Denny Kass and Al Snow) before retiring completely from the wrestling business. Both Costello and his tag team partner Heffernan died before Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.\n\nEarly life\nCosta was born in the village of Lingua, in the Italian island of Santa Marina Salina, Sicily, and lived there until his family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. The family settled in Rockdale, New South Wales, where Costa helped out in his father's fruit store. He excelled at school sports, and became interested in weightlifting at an early age. At age 16, Costa took up amateur boxing despite his father's wishes that he should become an opera singer. Costa was approached by Australian middleweight wrestling champion \"Basher Bonas\", who convinced him to try wrestling. Costa made his debut under an assumed name; his father still had hopes of him becoming an opera singer, and he did not want his parents to find out that he was wrestling. He came up with the name \"Al Costello\", thinking it sounded tough like a portmanteau of Al Capone and Frank Costello.\n\nWrestling career\nAl Costello made his professional wrestling debut in 1938, but the man that would be known as \"The Man of a Thousand Holds\" 20 years later, found little success early in his career. The general belief in Australian professional wrestling at the time was that a wrestler had to go to North America and learn how to be a pro before the bookers would even consider pushing them up the card. Costello travelled across Asia, where he did see some success; he won the Malaysian Heavyweight title in 1939, as well as the South Africa trophy in 1949. During the 1950s, Costello finally started to turn heads at home by winning the Australasian title. In 1952, Costello began wrestling in America, hoping to finally break through and make a big name of himself.\n\nFabulous Kangaroos\n\nFor years, Al Costello had been working on an idea for a new tag team; he even knew who he wanted for a partner: a wrestler he had worked with some years ago named Roy Heffernan. Because Costello and Heffernan had lost touch over the years, the idea remained dormant until Costello toured Hawaii in 1956. Costello mentioned his idea of an \"Ultra Australian\" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan and knew he was working in Stampede Wrestling at the time. Blanchard put the two in touch with each other, and Costello was soon off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to join Heffernan and finally make his tag team a reality. Costello and Heffernan debuted as \"The Fabulous Kangaroos\" on 3 May 1957 for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after that first match, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams in the promotion.\n\nAfter working in Stampede for a while, The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or \"Kangaroo Men\" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters in order to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.\n\nBetween 1957 and 1965, The Kangaroos wrestled in the United States, Canada, Asia and select tours of Australia and New Zealand. They worked for such companies as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the future World Wrestling Entertainment), Championship Wrestling from Florida, NWA Ohio, the Japan Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Association in Los Angeles, California.\n\nThe Kangaroos never forgot their roots and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Costello featured in a National Film Board of Canada short subject La Lotta/Wrestling/Le Catch. Their stint in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time Costello and Heffernan teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.\n\nBetween Kangaroos\nHeffernan returned to Australia and began working for World Championship Wrestling (the Australian version, not the North American wrestling federation) under booker Jim Barnett as a singles wrestler. Costello was originally supposed to return to Australia as well and work for WCW, but those plans never came through. Instead, Costello remained in the United States and kept working in the tag team division, never seeking a career as a singles wrestler. Costello began wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he teamed up with Louis Tillet to form a tag team known as \"The Globetrotters\"; a name that played off Costello's Australian and Tillet's French heritage. The Globetrotters defeated the Mysterious Medics in the finals of the Georgia NWA World Tag Team Championship but only held the titles for a week before losing them to Kurt and Karl Von Brauner on 4 February 1966. After this, the Globetrotters broke up due to differences in their approach to tag teaming.\n\nCostello then moved to the NWA Mid-America territory near Nashville, Tennessee. In Mid-American, Costello teamed with Herb Welch to win the Mid-American version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which they held for just over 2 months. While still working in Mid-America, Costello began to team with Karl Von Brauner, who used a \"German Nazi\" gimmick despite being American. Under the management of \"Playboy\" Gary Hart, Costello and Von Brauner were billed as \"The Internationals\"; the team was later managed by George \"Crybaby\" Cannon. The Internationals worked mainly in Tennessee and Texas for NWA Western States. In Texas, Costello and Von Brauner won the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, a title Costello and Heffernan had held in 1958. The team was also billed as the first NWA American Tag Team Champions, titles that were also recognized by World Class Championship Wrestling in addition to the Western States promotion. The Internationals lost the American Tag Team title to Fritz and Waldo Von Erich on 21 February 1967. Kurt then decided to go back to teaming with his storyline brother, Karl Von Brauner.\n\nAfter the Internationals broke up, Costello returned to Australia to visit friends and relatives and to recuperate after many years on the road. On his way back to the United States, Costello had a stop over in Detroit, Michigan, where he met Cleo Williams. The two fell in love and married shortly afterwards, remaining together for the rest of Costello's life.\n\nKangaroos once more\n\nIn 1967, Al Costello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos, this time teaming up with Ray St. Clair. The team had been touring non-stop for about six months when St. Clair was forced to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired, Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner, Roy Heffernan. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, The Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions upon arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation \"International Wrestling Enterprise\" (IWE) brought The Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold. Over the years, many more title reigns came from various promotions all over the globe. In Canada, The Kangaroos were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions. In the World Wrestling Association of Indianapolis, they held the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice. In addition to winning titles all over North America, Costello and Kent also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE).\n\nThe Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit, where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship for most of 1971. By the end of 1972, The Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America, they held the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, on three occasions.\n\nAfter a match at Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury left Costello unable to wrestle, and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Costello had a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.\n\nManaging\nIn 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of the team known as \"The Love Brothers\" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.\n\nAfter recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at age 56. The fact that he was able to recover from such a major injury is credited to his almost-fanatical style of healthy living. As a devout vegan, Costello credited his meat-free diet with his recovery, as well as the remarkable shape he was in for a man of his age.\n\nCostello reformed The Fabulous Kangaroos once more, this time teaming up with wrestler Tony Charles. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win Detroit's version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to \"Crazy\" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins.\n\nIn 1977, Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, The Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977 and remained in the WWC until 1978 chasing, but never regaining, the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.\n\nStill a Kangaroo\nIn 1981, Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang. Costello got Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC, while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.\n\nBekkar was replaced with Johnny Heffernan (Canadian wrestler Bob Della Serra), a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan, for what was the final version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello, Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion The Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida, The Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship four times. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement while he was \"away on business\". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon kayfabe refused to give up The Kangaroos' contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. This angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Johnny Heffernan went their separate ways.\n\nRetirement\nAfter retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage The New Fabulous Kangaroos in 1993, a team consisting of Mickey Doyle and Denny Kass who worked for \"Motor City Wrestling\" (MCW). By the fall of 1993, Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow; with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated \"Canadian Lighting\" (Otis Apollo and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy), on 29 December 1993, to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting again to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up; Snow focused on his World Wrestling Federation career while Costello retired for good, never making another wrestling related appearance.\n\nDeath\nOn 22 January 2000, Costello died from a combination of pneumonia and heart problems, in Clearwater, Florida. In 2003, Al Costello and Roy Heffernan became the first tag team to ever be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of the Kangaroos, they were \"billed as champions on arrival\" one last time.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\nAlex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)\nInternational Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan\nCapitol Wrestling Corporation\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan\nCauliflower Alley Club\nOther honoree (1994)\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)(1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nEastern Sports Association\nESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent\nGeorgia Championship Wrestling\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) 1 time – with Louie Tillet\nInternational Wrestling Enterprise\nTrans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent\nJapan Wrestling Association\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nMidwest Wrestling Association\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nMike London Promotions\nRocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nNational Wrestling Alliance\nNWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)\nNWA All-Star Wrestling\nNWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times) - with Roy Heffernan\nNWA Big Time Wrestling\nNWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Karl Von Brauner\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan (1), Karl Von Brauner (1)\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (3 times) - with Roy Heffernan (2), Ray St. Clair (1)\nNWA Mid-America\nNWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 4 times) - with Don Kent (3), Herb Welch (1)\nNew Zealand Wrestling Union\nNWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame\nClass of 2003 - with Roy Heffernan\nWestern States Sports\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Roy HeffernanA\n NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nWorld Wrestling Association\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Kent\nWorldwide Wrestling Associates\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Roy Heffernan\nWWA International Television Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Roy Heffernan\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Kent\nWrestling Observer Newsletter\nWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) with Roy Heffernan\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page\n Roy Heffernan Interview\n\n1919 births\n2000 deaths\nAustralian male professional wrestlers\nItalian emigrants to Australia\nItalian male professional wrestlers\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum\nSportspeople from the Province of Messina\nStampede Wrestling alumni\nDeaths from pneumonia in Florida",
"This team is not to be mistaken for the similarly named team The Royal Kangaroos of Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III\n\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos were a professional wrestling tag team that existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. The first incarnation of The Fabulous Kangaroos was formed when Italian Australian Al Costello teamed with Australia native Roy Heffernan and adopted an \"Ultra Australian\" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats, and the song \"Waltzing Matilda\" as their entrance music. Costello and Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos, regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling, and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.\n\nLater versions of The Kangaroos saw Al Costello team with Ray St. Clair in 1967, and then with Don Kent from 1968 until 1974. Don Kent went on to team with Bruno Bekkar, and later Johnny Heffernan (a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan) to keep The Fabulous Kangaroos name alive until 1983.\n\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos made their last appearance in 1983, but almost a decade later, the then 72-year-old Al Costello managed a team known as \"The New Fabulous Kangaroos\" in the American Independent circuit. The New Fabulous Kangaroos consisted of little known wrestlers Mickey Doyle, Denny Kass and Al Snow; of the three, only Snow went on to national and international recognition.\n\nBoth Costello and Heffernan died before The Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.\n\nCareer\n\nAl Costello and Roy Heffernan\n\"The Fabulous Kangaroos\" were the brainchild of Al Costello, who had spent the first 18 years of his wrestling career as a fairly unsuccessful singles competitor. In 1956, Costello mentioned his idea of an \"Ultra Australian\" tag team to fellow wrestler, and future promoter, Joe Blanchard. Blanchard happened to be a good friend of Roy Heffernan, who had previously trained with Costello and became his choice for a partner. Costello and Heffernan made their debut as The Fabulous Kangaroos on 3 May 1957, for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion of Canada, in a match against Maurice LaPointe and Tony Baillargeon. Only weeks after making their debut, The Kangaroos were working with the top tag teams of the promotion.\n\nAfter working in Stampede for a while The Fabulous Kangaroos started to travel across the United States, headlining shows wherever they went due to their ability to rile up crowds with their heel (bad guy) tactics. On one occasion in August 1958, The Kangaroos, or \"Kangaroo Men\" as they were billed, nearly caused a riot in Madison Square Garden during a match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez; the fans began to throw fruit and stones at them. After the match ended without a decisive winner, the promoters stepped in, turned up the arena lights, and played the National Anthem to stop a potential riot. This was a common tactic used at the time by the New York promoters to prevent riots and help the heels leave the arena unharmed. Later that year, Costello and Heffernan started working for Dory Funk's NWA Western States promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. Here, The Kangaroos won their first title as a team when they defeated Pepper Gomez and El Medico to win the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on 17 November 1958. Their first title reign was short lived, however, as Pepper Gomez and Rito Romero defeated them to regain the titles two weeks later.\n\nThe following year, The Fabulous Kangaroos won the main tag team titles in NWA New Mexico, as well as the Texas version of the NWA International Tag Team Championship. In 1960 the Kangaroos moved on to New York, where they worked for Capitol Wrestling (predecessor to the modern-day WWE). On 21 July 1960 The Fabulous Kangaroos defeated Red and Lou Bastien to claim the North East version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship (which was later known as the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship). The Bastien brothers sought revenge and regained the gold during a rematch on 8 August 1960. This time, the Bastiens' title reign only lasted 16 days when The Fabulous Kangaroos beat them again in Washington, D.C. to become two-time United States champions. Their second tenure as champions lasted almost three months, before they were defeated by Johnny Valentine and Buddy Rogers on 19 November 1960. Costello and Heffernan won the titles for a third time only a week later and carried the gold into 1961. On 11 January 1962, The Kangaroos third title reign ended when they lost to the team of Johnny Valentine and Bob Ellis. This third reign is the longest reign with this championship by any team. It was also the longest reign by any team with any tag team championship in WWF/WWWF history until exceeded by WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition on 12 May 1989. In 2016, the Kangaroos' reign was pushed down into third place by The New Day's reign with the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.\n\nAs was common in their day, The Kangaroos began to move around between territories to avoid overexposure. The team arrived in Championship Wrestling from Florida billed as NWA Florida United States Tag Team Champions. It was a tag team title they never technically won, but were instead awarded by the promoter. The Kangaroos stayed in Florida, defending against all challengers until the duo of Eddie Graham and Dick Steinborn took the United States titles from them in a match on 1 November 1961. In 1962, The Kangaroos once again traveled across the United States, working for the Midwest Wrestling Association of Ohio where they held the Ohio version of the NWA United States tag team title. They also toured Japan with the Japan Wrestling Association and were the first to hold the Japanese version of the NWA International Tag Team Championship. In 1964, Costello and Heffernan made their west coast debut, working in Los Angeles, California for the World Wrestling Association (WWA) where they beat Édouard Carpentier and Ernie Ladd for the WWA World Tag Team Championship. The Kangaroos held the titles for three months before losing them to the Torres brothers (Alberto and Ramon) on 28 April 1964.\n\nThe Kangaroos never forgot their roots, and continued to work in Canada off and on through the years; in addition to Stampede Wrestling, the team also worked for NWA All-Star Wrestling based in Vancouver, British Columbia. While working for All-Star Wrestling, The Kangaroos were involved in a heated storyline with Don Leo Jonathan and Roy McClarty that sold-out arenas all across the territory. On 25 May 1964 The Kangaroos won the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship, and immediately had to fend off the challenges of Jonathan and McClarty. During one infamous match in Winnipeg, The Kangaroos made Stan Stasiak an \"honorary Kangaroo\" for the night (complete with bush hat and all) for a six-man tag team match against Jonathan, McClarty and Karl Gotch. During the match The Kangaroos' cheating tactics aggravated the crowd so much that the fans threw chairs at the team. The Kangaroos attempted to hide under the ring to escape the flying chairs, but rabid fans tried to light the ring apron on fire to \"smoke out\" The Kangaroos. Peace was restored before anyone got seriously hurt and Jonathan and McClarty defeated The Kangaroos for the Canadian Tag Team titles, only to lose them back to the team from \"Down Under\" less than a month later. The Fabulous Kangaroos held the Canadian Tag team titles a total of four times while working for All-Star wrestling, losing them for the final time on 17 May 1965 to the team of Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy. For the better part of a year The Kangaroos had been double champions, holding both the Canadian Tag Team titles and the All-Star version of the NWA International Tag Team titles.\n\nTheir time in NWA All-Star Wrestling was the last time the original Kangaroos teamed together. In June 1965, The Kangaroos lost to Don Leo Jonathan and Jim Hardy, and then split up. Heffernan had left Australia to tour the world in 1953 and wanted to return to his homeland, while Costello was determined to remain in the United States for a while longer.\n\nAl Costello and Ray St. Clair\nIn 1967, after having wrestled with other partners, including a stint as The Internationals with Karl Von Brauner, Costello decided that he wanted to reform The Fabulous Kangaroos. He got in touch with a friend from Great Britain, Tinker Todd, and asked him to be his new partner and reform The Fabulous Kangaroos. Todd agreed, taking the name \"Ray St. Clair\" and adopting an \"Australian\" persona. George \"Crybaby\" Cannon had managed Costello and Von Brauner when they wrestled as The Internationals, and he was brought in to be The Kangaroos new manager. Not long after Costello and St. Clair hit the circuit, they captured both gold and the hatred of the crowd, just like the original Kangaroos. A couple of months after reforming, Costello and St. Clair won the NWA Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Fred Curry and Billy Red Lyons, but lost the titles to Fred Curry and Dan Miller a few weeks later. Costello and St. Clair showed the same gift for riling up the fans as Costello and Heffernan had and even caused their own share of riots. One particular event in Cincinnati, Ohio saw the predominantly African American crowd start a riot after The Kangaroos spat in the eye of the African American Bobo Brazil during a match. The crowd rushed towards the ring when a fan fell from the balcony, causing a diversion that enabled Costello and St. Clair to escape the ring and get back to their dressing room. When fans started to break down the door to the dressing room, The Kangaroos ducked out the back, ran down an alley and hid in a half full dumpster overnight. The next morning when The Kangaroos returned to their car, they found all four tires slashed. Despite the success of the new version of The Fabulous Kangaroos, the Costello / St. Ray team did not last more than six tumultuous months. St. Clair missed his native Britain and was suffering from a debilitating knee injury that meant he had to retire from wrestling altogether.\n\nAl Costello and Don Kent\nCostello was not ready to give up on The Fabulous Kangaroos concept after St. Clair retired, and a few months later he found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent, who was from Michigan, adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the two formed the third overall and second most well-known version of the Fabulous Kangaroos. Costello and Kent continued in a tradition that was reminiscent of the original Kangaroos; when a federation needed a new tag team title, the Kangaroos were brought in and acknowledged as champions on arrival instead of holding a tournament to determine the champions. In 1967, the Japanese federation \"International Wrestling Enterprise\" (IWE) brought the Kangaroos in as the first Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions. They held this title until 10 January 1968 when IWE mainstays Toyonobori and Thunder Sugiyama beat them for the gold.\n\nTheir time in Japan was only the first of many international tours for these third generation Kangaroos; they worked all over Asia as well as in Costello's homeland of Australia. In 1969, the Kangaroos wrestled for the newly created Eastern Sports Association (ESA) out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they were once again recognized as champions on their arrival, becoming the inaugural holders of the ESA International Tag Team Championship. On 5 August 1969, the Kangaroos dropped the titles to Eastern Sports Association mainstays The Beast and Rudy Kay. In 1970, they joined Dick the Bruiser's World Wrestling Association (WWA), where they competed regularly for nearly two years. On 26 December 1970 Costello and Kent defeated WWA World Tag Team Champions Dick the Bruiser and Bill Miller to claim the tag titles. The Kangaroos used every dirty tactic to hold on to the gold for six months before losing the titles to Wilbur Snyder and Moose Cholak. On 18 June 1971, the Kangaroos regained the titles, and held them for just over two months before Wilbur Snyder and Paul Christy beat them for their straps. After leaving the WWA, Costello and Kent made a few appearances in New York for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), a promotion the original Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Roy Hefferman) had previously worked for under the company's former name, Capitol Wrestling. In one of their headline appearances at Madison Square Garden, the Kangaroos wrestled to a 45-minute time limit draw against Terry and Dory Funk, Sr.\n\nThe Kangaroos were not only stars in the wrestling world, they also made a series of popular \"celebrity baseball\" appearances in 1971–1972. At one celebrity all-star game in Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA, the Kangaroos became the stars of the celebrity team by going 7 for 8 collectively and entertaining the fans with their horseplay and comedy antics.\n\nOn 18 December 1971, The Fabulous Kangaroos defeated Ben Justice and the Stomper in the tournament finals for the new Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The Kangaroos worked for NWA Detroit for most of 1971, defending the gold until Justice and the Stomper won the titles in July 1972. By the end of 1972, the Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas’ NWA Mid-America promotion, based in the Southern United States, a promotion that Don Kent had worked for before becoming a Kangaroo. On 1 February 1973, the Kangaroos defeated \"The Heavenly Bodies\" (Don and Al Green; not to be confused with the 1990s team of the same name) to add yet another version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version, to their long list of title accomplishments. The Kangaroos held that title three times between February and 22 September 1973, when they lost to the team of Lorenzo Parente and Randy Curtis. During 1973 George Cannon was replaced as the Kangaroos manager by \"Sir\" Dudley Clements.\n\nAfter a match in the Cincinnati Gardens, an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that he needed hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined $50 for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury meant that Costello was unable to compete and The Fabulous Kangaroos split up once again. Don Kent returned to NWA Mid-America to work as a singles wrestler, while Costello had a full hip replacement, and was forced to retire from active competition. In 1975, Costello surprised everyone by returning to professional wrestling as the manager of a team known as \"The Love Brothers\" (Hartford and Reggie Love). He actually stepped into the ring on occasion as part of special six-man tag team matches.\n\nAfter recovering from his hip surgery, Costello returned to active competition at the age of 56, teaming up with Tony Charles to form yet another version of The Fabulous Kangaroos. The team defeated Dominic DeNucci and Chris Markoff to win the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team title, the same title that Costello and Kent had previously held. The Kangaroos title run was short, however, and they lost their gold to \"Crazy\" Luke Graham and Ripper Collins. In 1977 Tony Charles was replaced by Don Kent and the two reunited for a tour of Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council (WWC). In Puerto Rico, the Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a newly created title legitimacy. They dropped the titles to Carlos Colón and Jose Rivera on 12 March 1977. The Kangaroos remained in the WWC till 1978, chasing, but never regaining the WWC World Tag Team Championship. After their tour in Puerto Rico ended, Don Kent returned to singles wrestling, and Costello refocused on managing.\n\nDon Kent and Bruno Bekkar\nIn 1981, Don Kent donned the bush hat and picked up the boomerang once more after not having worked as a Kangaroo since 1974, except for the short run in 1977. Costello asked Kent to team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia. Kent and Bekkar worked a tour for the WWC while Costello served as their manager. The team won the WWC North American Tag Team titles from Jack and Jerry Brisco on 22 October 1981. They then lost the titles to Invader I and Super Gladiator but quickly gained them back before dropping the titles for good to Invader and Gladiator on 26 January 1982. The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted through one tour of the Caribbean, after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.\n\nDon Kent and Johnny Heffernan\nAfter Bekkar went back to Australia, Kent found a new partner to create yet another version of the Fabulous Kangaroos that turned out to be the last incarnation of the team. In mid 1982, Kent teamed up with Lutte Internationale mainstay Bob Della Serra, who took the wrestling name \"Johnny Heffernan\" (or \"Bobby Heffernan\" at times) - a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan. The team ended Terry and Dory Funk, Jr.'s year and a half run with the WWC World Tag Team championship on 1 May 1982. Kent and Heffernan held the gold for less than two months before losing the WWC World Tag Team titles to Invader I and Pierre Martel. After a tour in Puerto Rico, Costello Kent and Heffernan returned to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), a promotion the Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. On 5 January 1983, the Kangaroos defeated Barry Windham and Ron Bass to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship. They held the titles four times between January and 13 April 1983, losing to and winning titles from such teams as Terry Allen and Scott McGhee, Terry Allen and The Midnight Rider, and Terry Allen and Brad Armstrong. The final storyline involving The Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short-term replacement while he was \"away on business\". When Costello returned from his business trip, Dillon (kayfabe) refused to give up the Kangaroos contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Heffernan. The angle was designed to write Al Costello out of The Fabulous Kangaroos' storyline, and allow him to retire from wrestling altogether. Not long after Costello retired, Kent and Della Serra went their separate ways. Don Kent retired in 1986, but made guest appearances in the ring from time to time as late as 1992.\n\nNew Fabulous Kangaroos\nAfter retiring from wrestling, Al Costello became the head of security at College Harbor, Florida. In 1992, at the age of 71, Costello retired from his job in Florida and began teaching wrestling. He also started to manage \"The New Fabulous Kangaroos\" in 1993 consisting of Mickey Doley and Denny Kass who worked for \"Motor City Wrestling\" (MCW). By the fall of 1993 Mickey Doyle had been replaced by a young wrestler by the name of Al Snow, and with Costello's help The New Fabulous Kangaroos defeated \"Canadian Lighting\" (Otis Apollo and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy) on 29 December 1993 to win the MCW Tag Team Championship. On 14 May 1994, after Al Snow had started working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Kass and Snow defeated Canadian Lighting to win the Border City Wrestling (BCW) Can-Am Tag Team Championship, unifying the two tag team championships. A week later, The New Fabulous Kangaroos lost both sets of titles to Scott D'Amore and \"Irish\" Bobby Clancy. After losing the unified MCW/BCW Tag Team championships, The New Kangaroos split up. Snow focused on his WWF career, while Costello retired for good.\n\nKangaroo legacy\nThe Fabulous Kangaroos are considered by many in the wrestling world as one of the best tag-teams in the history of wrestling. In fact, many people in the past held the mistaken belief that The Fabulous Kangaroos invented tag team wrestling, which was not true since tag team wrestling had been seen as early as 1936. The reason for this belief lies in the fact that The Kangaroos were one of the first teams to popularize tag team wrestling, and because tag teaming was often referred to as \"Australian rules\" or \"Australian tag team\". The Kangaroos themselves were not slow to play off this belief, often claiming (kayfabe) that they were such a well coordinated tag team because \"Amateur team wrestling was very popular in Australia\". The term \"Australian rules\" had been coined long before 1957 debut of The Kangaroos. Records indicate that tag team wrestling was already being referred to as \"Australian rules\" already in the mid-1940s. The Fabulous Kangaroos were among the first people in wrestling to play up the sports entertainment elements in professional wrestling; beyond being talented wrestlers, Costello especially was also very good at playing up their characters. The Kangaroos showed their \"advertising\" skills through promotional literature, which stated that The Fabulous Kangaroos had \"fashioned a razor-edged aluminum boomerang to cut the jugular of a Kodiak bear from afar\". They also frequently threw cardboard boomerangs with their name and pictures on them into the crowd as they walked to the ring. The team carried a huge Australian banner with the name \"The Fabulous Kangaroos\" on it as part of their entrance rituals as well.\n\nKangaroos today\nRoy Heffernan died on 24 September 1992 in his home in Sydney, Australia from a heart attack. Don Kent died on 14 June 1993 after a long battle with Leukemia. On 22 January 2000, the last of the original Fabulous Kangaroos died. Costello had been suffering from pneumonia, and was diagnosed with heart problems, the combination of which took his life at age 80.\n\nOnly Bruno Bekkar and Johnny Heffernan remain alive, with managers Red Berry, George Cannon and Dudley Clement having passed on as well. Ray St. Clair, whose birth name was Ramon Napolitano, died on 14 July 2013.\n\nIn 2003, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame inducted Al Costello and Roy Heffernan collectively as The Fabulous Kangaroos, the first tag team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Since that time, the Hall of Fame has honored other tag teams, but The Fabulous Kangaroos were given the honor of being the first. In the tradition of The Kangaroos, they were \"billed as champions on arrival\" one last time. In 2013, Costello and Heffernan was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\n\nCostello and Heffernan\nAlex Turk Promotions (Winnipeg)\nInternational Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nCapitol Wrestling Corporation\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (3 times)\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time)\nJapan Wrestling Association\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nMidwest Wrestling Association\nNWA United States Tag Team Championship (Ohio Version) (1 time)\nNational Wrestling Alliance\nNWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)\nNWA All-Star Wrestling\nNWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (4 times)\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (2 times)\nNWA New Mexico\nRocky Mountain Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA Western States (Amarillo)\nNWA International Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time)\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time)\nWorld Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame\nClass of 2003\n Western States Sports\n NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) (1 time)\nWrestling Observer Newsletter awards\nWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)\n\nCostello and St. Clair\nNWA Detroit\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (1 time)\n\nCostello and Kent\nEastern Sports Association\nESA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nInternational Wrestling Enterprise\nTrans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nNWA Mid-America\nNWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (3 times)\nWorld Wrestling Association\nWWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nKent and Bekkar\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (2 times)\nWWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nKent and Heffernan\nChampionship Wrestling from Florida\nNWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (4 times)\nWorld Wrestling Council\nWWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nWWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nNew Fabulous Kangaroos\nBorder City Wrestling\nBCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (1 time)\nMotor City Wrestling\nMCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n New Fabulous Kangaroos Tribute page\n Roy Heffernan Interview\n\nIndependent promotions teams and stables\nWWE teams and stables\nProfessional wrestling in Australia\nAustralian male professional wrestlers\nProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum\nJapanese promotions teams and stables"
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[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City"
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C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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Did he commit any questionable acts?
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Did Frank Hague commit any questionable acts?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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[
"Doctrines of attribution are legal doctrines by which liability is extended to a defendant who did not actually commit the criminal act. Examples include vicarious liability (when acts of another are imputed or \"attributed\" to a defendant), attempt to commit a crime (even though it was never completed), and conspiracy to commit a crime (when it is not completed or which is committed by another in the conspiracy).\n\nReferences\n\nCriminal law legal terminology\nLegal doctrines and principles",
"The Incitement to Disaffection Act (Ireland) 1797 (37 Geo 3 c 40 (I)) was an Act of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland. It made equivalent provision to the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 for Ireland.\n\nThis Act was repealed for Northern Ireland by Group 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1998.\n\nThis Act was repealed for the Republic of Ireland by section 1 of, and the Schedule to, the Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962.\n\nThe death penalty for the offence under this Act of maliciously and advisedly endeavouring to seduce any person or persons serving in His Majesty's Forces by sea or land from his or their duty and allegiance to His Majesty, or inciting or stirring up any such person or persons to commit any act of mutiny, or to make or endeavour to make any mutinous assembly, or to commit any traitorous or mutinous practice whatsoever, was reduced to transportation for life by section 1 of the Punishment of Offences Act (1837). It was reduced again to penal servitude for life by section 2 of the Penal Servitude Act 1857, and to imprisonment for life by section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.\n\nSee also\nMutiny Acts\nIncitement to Disaffection Act 1934\n\nReferences\n\nActs of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801)\n1797 in law\n1797 in Ireland"
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Did he do anything illegal?
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Did Frank Hague do anything illegal?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
| true |
[
"Night Season by Eileen Wilks is the 7th book in the World of the Lupi series. It was released in March 2008.\n\nPlot introduction\nWhen two world-class cynics land in a world where magic is commonplace, lying is an artform, and night never ends, their only way home lies in working together to find a missing medallion sought by powerful beings who would do anything to claim it.\n\nCharacters\nCynna Weaver - a Finder whose image decorates the cover of Blood lines. The tattoos are how Cynna works her special brand of magic.\nCullen Seabourne - a recent adoption to Rule's Nokolai werewolf clan. Cullen was clanless for many years. He is also a sorcerer, which is a slightly illegal pastime according to the federal authorities. Eileen describes him as sin incarnate to look at.\nGan - part demon, part something new, Gan always says what's on her mind, and will do anything for chocolate.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nEileen Wilks Official website\n\nWorld of the Lupi books\nAmerican fantasy novels\nNovels by Eileen Wilks\n2008 American novels",
"I'd Do Anything may refer to:\nI'd Do Anything (2004 TV series), a 2004 American reality series that aired on ESPN\nI'd Do Anything (2008 TV series), a 2008 talent show-themed television series that aired on the BBC\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Oliver! song), from the musical Oliver!\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Simple Plan song)\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Dead or Alive song)"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
|
Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?
| 3 |
Did anyone attempt to prosecute Frank Hague?
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Frank Hague
|
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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"The People of the State of California v. Superior Court (Decker), 41 Cal. 4th 1 (2007), is a criminal case decided by the Supreme Court of California that distinguished between solicitation and attempt.\n\nBackground\nDecker searched out, asked, and later met with and paid an assassin to murder Decker's sister. After Decker made elaborate preparations, Decker had his final meeting with the assassin. \"The assassin said, 'I want you to know, once I leave, its done. So you sure you want to go through with it?' Decker replied, 'I am absolutely, positively, 100 percent sure,'\" then Decker handed over the money.\" The assassin was an undercover detective wearing a recording device.\n\nDecker admitted he solicited murder, but denied he attempted murder, arguing that solicitation and attempt are not identical, with attempt having a standard of being much closer to the act intended to cause the consummation of the crime. The trial court agreed, and the attempt charge was dismissed for lack of evidence per its understanding of the law on elements of an attempt charge.\n\nThe prosecution appealed and the California Supreme Court reinstated the attempt charge. The court reasoned agreed that solicitation and attempt are different, and that solicitation does not imply attempt, the latter requiring a finding of greater proximity to fruition of the crime. But the court found that a jury might find the solicitation to have occurred at an earlier request to do the murder, and additionally find attempt at the time of the passing of the money.\n\nOpinion of the Court\nThe Supreme Court wrote:\n\n\"Although Decker did not himself point a gun at his sister, he did aim at her an armed professional who had agreed to commit the murder... The solicitation is complete once the request is made... In this case the solicitation was complete early in Decker's first conversation with [the assassin] when he asked [the assassin] to kill [Decker's sister]... But the People do not contend that this request was sufficient to prosecute Decker for attempted murder. They argue instead that the solicitation, in combination with Decker's subsequent conduct... that Decker put this plan into operation no later than the point... at which he... paid [the assassin] $5,000...\"The issue is not whether solicitation alone is sufficient to establish an attempt, but whether a solicitation to commit murder, combined with a completed agreement to hire a professional killer and the making of a downpayment under that agreement, can establish probable cause to believe Decker attempted to murder... downpayment on a contract to murder... makes the object of the contract 'closer to fruition'.\"\n\nReferences\n\n2007 in United States case law\nAttempt",
"Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court concluded that Indian tribes could not prosecute Indians who were members of other tribes for crimes committed by those nonmember Indians on their reservations. The decision was not well received by the tribes, because it defanged their criminal codes by depriving them of the power to enforce them against anyone except their own members. In response, Congress amended a section of the Indian Civil Rights Act, , to include the power to \"exercise criminal jurisdiction over all Indians\" as one of the powers of self-government.\n\nBackground\n\nReservation \nThe Salt River Indian Reservation, located to the east of Scottsdale, Arizona, is home to the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. The reservation was established in 1879 by executive order to recognize the occupation of the land by Pima and Maricopa Indians. The Indians moved from the Gila River Indian Reservation due to white settlers upstream diverting water from the Gila River to the point that the Indians could no longer farm there. Although the Indians had complained at the Gila River reservation, nothing was done to stop the theft of their water, where at the Salt River, the tribes were upstream of the settlers and did not have the same problem. In 1926, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) created a Pima Advisory Council and in 1934 the two tribes adopted a constitution for the reservation. The current constitution dates from 1940.\n\nFacts \nAlbert Duro was not a member of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. He was from California and was a member of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians; thus, he was not eligible for membership in the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, and could not vote in tribal elections, hold tribal office, or serve on tribal juries.\n\nDuro lived on the Salt River Indian Reservation with a \"woman friend\" and worked for the tribe's construction company, PiCopa Construction. In 1984, he was accused of killing a 14-year-old boy inside the boundaries of the reservation. Initially, Duro was charged with murder and aiding and abetting murder in federal court, but the prosecution dismissed those charges without prejudice. Duro was handed over to Salt River tribal authorities, who charged Duro with illegally firing a weapon because under federal law, Indian tribes are limited to prosecuting misdemeanor crimes. The tribal courts denied Duro's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, and then Duro filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.\n\nThe district court granted the writ and ordered Duro released. Under Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, , the tribal court had no jurisdiction over non-Indians. If the district court were to find that the tribal court had jurisdiction over Indians who were not members of the tribe, it reasoned that would violate the equal protection guarantee of freedom from discrimination based on race. The Ninth Circuit reversed. It read the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Wheeler, , which stated that tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over nonmembers, as supported by an \"equivocal\" history, and concluded that federal statutory law allowed tribal jurisdiction over all Indians, not simply members. Finally, it concluded that holding that tribes lacked criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers would create a \"jurisdictional void,\" since only the state might have the power to prosecute the nonmember, and the state may lack the power or resources to do so. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the Ninth Circuit's decision.\n\nOpinion of the Court\nIn an opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Court described this case as falling at the \"intersection\" of its prior decisions in Oliphant and Wheeler. In Oliphant, the Court held that the inherent sovereignty of Indian tribes did not allow them to have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes on the reservation. And in Wheeler, the Court held that tribes retain their jurisdiction to prosecute their members for crimes committed on the reservation. The question this case posed was whether \"the sovereignty retained by the tribes in their dependent status within our scheme of government includes the power of criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers.\" The Court reasoned that the decisions in Oliphant and Wheeler compelled a negative answer to this question.\n\nThe sovereignty retained by the Indian tribes is \"of a unique and limited character.\" A fully sovereign government would have the power to prosecute all crimes that take place within its territorial boundaries, but the Indian tribes are no longer sovereign in that sense. The sovereignty retained by the tribes to prosecute their own members stems from their power to govern themselves in order to maintain \"their own unique customs and social order.\" When the tribes were relegated to dependents of the federal government, they did not lose this inherent power. Rather, the tribes were divested only of the power to regulate relations between themselves and nonmembers.\n\nThe distinction between members and nonmembers is the critical distinction in this case, not the distinction between Indian and non-Indians. Thus, states may not impose taxes on transactions between members that take place on reservations, because this would interfere with the sovereignty of tribes vis-à-vis their own members. Tribes also retain the power to regulate hunting on lands they own or lands held in trust for them by the United States, but not on lands held in fee. And although other decisions of the Court had recognized broader retained powers in the civil context, criminal powers of Indian tribes were strictly limited to members because \"the exercise of criminal jurisdiction subjects a person not only to the adjudicatory power of the tribunal, but also to the prosecuting power of the tribe, and involves a far more direct intrusion on personal liberties.\" Thus, Indian tribes may only prosecute members for crimes committed on their reservations. Because Duro was not a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, that tribe did not have the power to prosecute him for the crime of illegally firing a weapon.\n\nThe tribes argued that, historically, tribes had jurisdiction over all Indians regardless of membership. For example, federal statutes used the word \"Indian\" without regard to membership, to refer to the \"family of Indians.\" Courts of \"Indian offenses,\" established by the Department of the Interior for tribes without their own functioning court systems, historically exercised jurisdiction over all Indians without regard to membership, and continue to do so. But the Court responded that federal statutes had always referred to federal programs, and never to the power of tribes with respect to individual Indians. \"The historical record prior to the creation of modern tribal courts shows little federal attention to the individual tribes' powers as between themselves or over one another's members. Scholars who do find treaties or other sources illuminating have only divided in their conclusions.\" After the federal government allowed the tribes to \"express [their] retained tribal sovereignty\" by creating their own tribal courts, the Secretary of the Interior still had to approve the legal codes the tribes created before the courts of Indian offenses would yield to the tribes own courts. Written opinions of the Solicitor General of the Department of the Interior consistently affirmed the power of the tribes over their own members, but went no further. In light of the historical record, the Court was not \"persuaded that external criminal jurisdiction is an accepted part of the courts' function.\"\n\nThe Court could not ignore the fact that Duro was also a citizen of the United States, entitled to all the privileges and immunities that attach to that status. One right a citizen of the United States enjoys is the right to due process of law, which protects them from \"unwarranted intrusions on their personal liberty. Criminal trial and punishment is so serious and intrusion on personal liberty that its exercise over non-Indian citizens was a power necessarily surrendered by the tribes in their submission to the overriding sovereignty of the United States.\" Tribal courts do not necessarily afford defendants the full range of protections afforded defendants in federal courts by the Bill of Rights. Because tribal members may participate in tribal governance, the Court approves of tribal members being subject to the criminal jurisdiction of their own tribes. Because nonmembers do not participate in tribal governance, the Court felt it was too great an intrusion to allow tribes to prosecute nonmembers.\n\nFinally, the Court rejected the argument that not allowing tribes to prosecute nonmembers, those nonmembers would escape prosecution altogether for criminal activity engaged in within tribal boundaries. The federal government retains the power to prosecute felonies that take place on reservations. Tribes retain the power to expel undesirable persons. Tribal authorities may still arrest the nonmember and detain him until he can be handed over to authorities who do have the power to prosecute the nonmember. The tribe pointed out that state authorities can lack the power to prosecute crimes committed by nonmembers on reservations; Arizona, for instance, expressly disclaims this prosecutorial authority. But Congress has allowed states to assume this power, and Arizona is free to take up Congress's invitation. Finally, if the tribes still believed that there remained a \"jurisdictional void,\" despite these options, they could persuade Congress to give it to them.\n\nDissenting opinion\nJustice Brennan disagreed that the Court's holding did not create a jurisdictional void. \"The existence of a jurisdictional gap is not an independent justification for finding tribal jurisdiction, but rather is relevant to determining congressional intent. The unlikelihood that Congress intended to create a jurisdictional void in which no sovereign has the power to prosecute an entire class of crimes should inform our understanding of the assumptions about tribal power upon which Congress legislated.\" Accordingly, Justice Brennan believed the Court should have read the historical evidence in such a way that supported Congress's intent to allow Indian tribes to exert jurisdiction over nonmembers. Furthermore, Justice Brennan did not accept the Court's argument that the fact that nonmembers were citizens of the United States counseled against allowing tribes to exert jurisdiction over nonmembers. If that was true, he said, it would also be true that tribes could not exert jurisdiction over their own members either. Nor had the Court ever held that participation in the political process was a prerequisite to exercising criminal jurisdiction over a citizen. If this were true, then states could never prosecute nonresidents or aliens.\n\nAftermath\nCongress quickly addressed the jurisdictional gap that emerged from the Court's ruling by amending the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1990 as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 1991, which was signed into law on November 5, 1990. Nearly fourteen years later, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of this amendment to 25 U.S.C. § 1301(2) in United States v. Lara (2004), upholding the amendment to the Indian Civil Rights Act and effectively overturning Duro v. Reina.\n\nSee also\n Tribal sovereignty in the United States\n List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 495\n List of United States Supreme Court cases\n Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume\n List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Commentary from the National Conference of State Legislatures\n\nUnited States Supreme Court cases\nUnited States Native American criminal jurisdiction case law\n1990 in United States case law\nUnited States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations"
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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In what way was he "Boss of Jersey City"?
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In what way was Frank Hague the "Boss of Jersey City"?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
| true |
[
"Mark Matthew Fagan (September 29, 1869 – July 16, 1955) was an Irish Catholic mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, from 1902 to 1907 and 1913 to 1917.\n\nBiography\nHe was born on September 29, 1869 in Jersey City. He had little formal education, and as a youth, he worked for his uncle as an undertaker. A Republican, he entered politics while still in his twenties becoming a county freeholder though he was not re-elected.\n\nIn 1901, Republican Party boss, Colonel Samuel D. Dickinson, asked him to run for mayor, which Fagan did and won becoming the 27th mayor of Jersey City. At age 32, he was the youngest mayor elected in Jersey City until that time and only the fifth Republican. He was re-elected for three consecutive two-year terms however, after feuding with his own party, he was defeated for re-election in 1907 by H. Otto Wittpenn. He unsuccessfully ran again in 1909.\n\nIn 1913, Jersey City went to a city commission form of government, and Fagan was elected commissioner. He was then chosen by his colleagues to be mayor once more. As mayor, he was famous for building schools. In 1917, he stepped down as mayor, retired from politics and continued his career as an undertaker.\n\nPolitical boss Frank Hague succeeded him as mayor. It would be 75 years before another Republican, Bret Schundler, would be elected mayor of Jersey City.\n\nFagan died on July 16, 1955 and was buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.\n\nSee also\nList of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Chapter 1 of Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens\n\n1869 births\n1955 deaths\nMayors of Jersey City, New Jersey\nNew Jersey Republicans\nAmerican people of Irish descent\nBurials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)",
"William \"Willie\" DeNoble (July 3, 1924 – October 3, 2007) was an American trade unionist.\n\nA lifelong resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, William DeNoble went to work as a longshoreman at the age of 18. He married at the age of 20 and became the night tractor boss on the Jersey City piers at the age of 24. At 26 he became hiring boss on pier \"F\" in Jersey City. He was the youngest in that job in the history of the East Coast International Longshoremen's Association.\n\nAt 29 years of age he became the state organizer of the International Longshoreman's Association, a member of the AFL. He then went on to become a personal aide to Captain William V. Bradley, President of the ILA. He was also a labor consultant to Congressman Vincent J. Dellay and Dominick V. Daniels and a legislative aide to Assemblyman Anthony Impervuduto. William DeNoble then ran for City Council in Jersey City as a candidate under Mayor Thomas Gangemi. He also ran for mayor in Jersey City unsuccessfully in 1980.\n\nDeNoble became supervisor of Hudson County Parks which he maintained until his retirement. He was a Parking Authority commissioner in Jersey City for seven years and briefly ran the Parking Authority for a period of six months. He was also President of the Holy Name Society of Hudson County and on numerous Boards.\n\nDeNoble headed his own William DeNoble Association for many years in downtown Jersey City. He sponsored many benefits for handicapped children and for individual families in need. He served in the United States Coast Guard and was discharged with an honorable discharge.\n\nReferences\n\nThe Jersey Journal\nThe Kushner Report\nThe United States Coast Guard\nHudson County Office of Information\nInternational Longshoreman's Union\nJersey City Public Library\n\n1924 births\n2007 deaths\nPeople from Jersey City, New Jersey\nInternational Longshoremen's Association people\nTrade unionists from New Jersey"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats
| 5 |
What was Frank Hague's first act after obtaining control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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[
"The 2008 Maidstone Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Maidstone Borough Council in Kent, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.\n\nAfter the election, the composition of the council was:\nConservative 29\nLiberal Democrat 20\nIndependent 5\nLabour 1\n\nBackground\nBefore the election the Conservatives were the largest party on the council with 27 seats, but did not have a majority. The council however was run by a coalition of the other groups, with the Liberal Democrats leading an alliance with Labour and the independents. Between them these groups had 28 seats, until the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Hooper, after he was arrested in relation to a computer-related crime, left them with the same number of seats as the Conservatives.\n\n19 seats were being contested in the election, with the Conservatives defending 8 and the Liberal Democrats 7.\n\nElection result\nThe results saw the Conservatives gain a majority of the council after making a net gain of 2 seats, in what was the first time any party had a majority on the council for 25 years. The Conservatives went up to 29 seats, while the Liberal Democrats dropped one seat to 20. The Labour group leader Morel D'Souza was defeated in Fant ward and his party was reduced to just 1 seat. Meanwhile, the independents went up by 1 seat to have 5 seats on the council. Overall turnout in the election was 35.58%.\n\nWard results\n\nReferences\n\n2008 English local elections\n2008\n2000s in Kent",
"The Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act was a 1922 act of the 67th United States Congress. Sponsored by Sen. Wesley L. Jones (R) of Washington and Rep. John F. Miller (R) of Washington. It is also often referred to as the Jones-Miller Act.\n\nFederal Narcotics Control Board\nThe Act also led to the establishing of the Federal Narcotics Control Board (FNCB) to tightly oversee the import and export primarily of opiates, but also other psychoactive drugs like coca. The control board were created to better control what America was exporting from its territories to others as well as what was being brought in, to ban all recreational consumption and to control the quality of what was being used for medical purposes.\n\nBackground\n\nThe newly brought in act was but another in a long line from 1848 that set out to curtail the use of drugs for recreational purposes, most of which started from San Francisco area with the attempt to curtail opium smoking, first by banning the smoking in public, exempting opium dens, until finally going for an all out ban, nationwide in 1922. Before the Jones-Miller Act laws were passed on a state by state basis.\n\nOpium Importation Prohibition of 1909\n60th United States Congress passed House bill , better known as the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act of 1909, which U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt enacted into law on February 9, 1909. Public Law 60-221 was effective after the first day of April 1909 imposing an unlawful Act to import any derivative, any form, or preparation of opium into the United States. The statutory law authorizes the importation of the psychoactive drug provided any opium derivatives and preparations will be for medicinal purposes only.\n\nAmendments to 1922 Act\nU.S. Congressional amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act, and for other purposes.\n\nSee also\n Anti-Heroin Act of 1924\n Harrison Narcotics Tax Act\n Narcotic\n Narcotic Farms Act of 1929\n Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1922 in law\n1922 in the United States\n67th United States Congress\nDrug policy of the United States\nHistory of drug control\nUnited States federal controlled substances legislation"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.",
"What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats",
"He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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Who did he take kickbacks from?
| 6 |
Who did Frank Hague take kickbacks from?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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[
"Mike Mass (born October 29, 1951) is an American politician who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 17th district from 1990 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2006.\n\nMass, who has a gambling addiction, admitted to taking about $280,000 in kickbacks from a dog food company and a gaming machine manufacturer. He was sentenced to two years in prison on May 27, 2009.\n\nReferences\n\n1951 births\nLiving people\nPeople from McAlester, Oklahoma\nMembers of the Oklahoma House of Representatives\nOklahoma Democrats\nOklahoma politicians convicted of crimes",
"Lawrence Malcolm Nadle (September 29, 1913 in Manhattan - December 26, 1963) (sometimes credited as Larry Nadel) was a comic book editor and writer who was known for his work for DC Comics' romance comics, celebrity comics, and other humor-centric titles. Todd Klein has noted that Nadle's career in comics began \"around 1943-44\", as an editor for All-American Publications.\n\nNadle also wrote scripts for radio and television, and (under the joint pseudonym \"Bob Lawrence\", which he shared with cartoonist Bob Oksner) produced the comic strip version of the situation comedy I Love Lucy. As well, he served as Robert Lewis May's ghost writer on the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer comic strip, and created the character \"Yankee Doodle Dandy\" (although, due to Nadle's sudden death, the character went unpublished until Grant Morrison repurposed him in 1992).\n\nAllegations of impropriety\n\nFellow editor George Kashdan said that Nadle \"paid himself for stories that did not exist\", and that prior to audits, Nadle \"would take an old script and change the title page to the title of the new story that he bought for himself\".\n\nSimilarly, artist John Romita alleged that Nadle solicited kickbacks from artists from whom he would then commission stories, in order to pay his gambling debts.\n\nBob Oksner likewise stated that Nadle solicited kickbacks, and described how, when he was writing and drawing The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, Nadle persuaded him to allow his writing credit (and thus payment) to be transferred to another cartoonist who \"was in great debt to DC\"; in reality, Nadle was keeping the money, and when this was discovered after Nadle's death, Oksner was nearly fired.\n\nBob Haney called Nadle \"a horse player with a heart problem\".\n\nCraig Shutt has noted that Nadle participated in the practice of \"redo(ing) stories\", whereby a comic would \"replicate major plot points or complete storylines [of earlier comics], often using the same scenes if not the exact pacing\".\n\nPersonal life\nNadle's brother was cartoonist Martin Naydel, perhaps best known as the creator of the Jumble.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nLarry Nadle at Jerry Bails' Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999\n\n1913 births\n1963 deaths\nComic book editors"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.",
"What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats",
"He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country.",
"Who did he take kickbacks from?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article other than Frank Hague taking kickbacks?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor.
|
Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
| 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"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.",
"What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats",
"He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country.",
"Who did he take kickbacks from?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his \"puppets\" as governor."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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Which governor was one of his "puppets"?
| 8 |
Which governor was one of Hague's "puppets"?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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Edward I. Edwards
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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"Puppets and Puppets is a New York based fashion label found in 2018 by Carly Mark and Ayla Argentina.\n\nCreative\nPuppets and Puppets is a shared creative endeavor between Carly Mark and Ayla Argentina. Argentina does much of the sewing while Mark is the creative director and publicist. In British Vogue Mark explains the creative division of labor as, “My main focus is the show itself and I oversee the art direction and decide the theme of the collection. It’s 50/50 creative input, but Ayla has garment construction ideas and fashion history knowledge that I wouldn’t think of.”\n\nName\nPuppets and Puppets' name derives from Mark's dog, a chihuahua mix named \"Puppet\". Mark also notes the weight of the word \"puppet\" in the fashion industry with the way models are treated and how trend followers act.\n\nCollections\nPuppets and Puppets, as a brand, encapsulates many styles, fluctuating between streetwear and \"theatrical and humorous creations\" The label has been noted for its dramatic silhouettes, Grunge aesthetics, use of recycled and reclaimed items, food themed details, and absurdist one-of-a-kind pieces.\n\nHarelquin\nPuppets and Puppets first collection was an anti-fast fashion showing of \"wearable art pieces [which] mix a ’90s DIY aesthetic with over-the-top harlequinesque costume.\" The collection featured approximately 35% salvaged materials, either from eBay, the Salvation Army, or from Marks previous sculpture and video work.\n\nAmerican Psycho Meets the Romanoffs\nInspired by Fabergé Eggs, the Romanoffs, and American Psycho, Puppets and puppets presented their collection at Prince George Ballroom. Vogue commented on the recurring image of eggs throughout the collection by saying it, \"...was like stepping into a Salvador Dalí painting filled with shoes fashioned from egg cartons and little bralette nipple coverings made to look like sunny side-up yolks.\" The shoes fashioned out of egg crates evoked the saying \"walking on eggshells.\"\n\nMoebius\nPuppets and Puppets' fall 2020 collection was based on the sci-fi drawing of Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius, specifically his storyboards of the failed adaptation of Dune. Embellished with cookies and popcorn, the clothing was less commercial than their last two collections, but was more focused on story, with each model picking their character and Puppets and Puppets specifically designing a costume for them.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Puppets and Puppets official website\n\nClothing brands of the United States\nFashion",
"Margaret Ann Gildart Jackson (19 July 1910 – 9 April 1993) better known as Ann Hogarth (married name Margaret Ann Gildart Bussell) was a leading British puppeteer. She, her husband and \"Hogarth Puppets\" toured the world. She is best known for her puppet Muffin the Mule, which was one of the first stars of early BBC television in the 1940s and 1950s. She and her husband created a large collection of puppets\n\nLife\nHogarth was born to Olive Mary (née Howle) and William Gildart Jackson who had been a school teacher. She was born the fourth of five children on 19 July 1910 at Hazelgrove, Shottermill, Frensham, Surrey. Her father remarried after her mother died when she was a small child. She was educated at St Catherine's School in Bramley where she discovered a talent for speaking and she resolved to go on the stage. To ensure she had a fallback career she trained as a secretary before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her qualification got her the job of stage manager at the Players' Theatre in London where she met her future business partner and husband, Jan Bussell in 1932. He had a lifetime interest in model theatres and he had persuaded John Logie Baird to televise one of his puppet productions the year before he and Hogarth created \"The Hogarth Puppetts\".\n\nHogarth married Bussell in 1933 as their puppet theatre promised \"One and a half hours of scintillating entertainment\" at each performance. The two of them commissioned plays and ballets for their puppets which they supplied with different voices. They had puppets made including a mule made by Fred Tickner who was known for his Punch and Judy puppets. Their repertoire included operetta, dance, poetry, Shakespeare and variety. They used marionettes and shadow puppets and a cast that included a complete orchestra. Despite their professional approach the company did not make much money and her husband had a day job directing Sheffield Repertory Theatre when he wasn't with Hogarth, collecting tickets, seeing the audience to their seats or being a puppeteer. Hogarth's daughter, Sally McNally, was born in 1936.\n\nDuring the war, Hogarth's partner was in the Navy but in 1946 he had returned to his pre-war job at BBC television in London.\n\nMuffin the Mule\n\nThe BBC's first made star is said to be one of their early puppets. Annette Mills had chosen named Fred Tichner's puppet \"Muffin the Mule\" and he first appeared on 4 August 1946. Hogarth wrote the scripts and Annette Mills created the songs. Every other Sunday the puppets had a fifteen-minute live broadcast in the \"For the Children\" programme. Muffin had his own mechanised products and Lesney is said to have made the first toy based on a TV programme when they licensed the right to sell a pressed steel version of Muffin as a children's toy. Muffin had another series recorded in 1952. Muffin ran until 1955. The act was soon put away, and the puppet was not taken out again until 1946, when Bussell and Hogarth were working with presenter Annette Mills. She named the puppet mule \"Muffin\", and it first appeared on television in an edition of For the Children broadcast on 20 October 1946. The character proved popular, and ran on BBC television until 1955. Typically, Muffin danced on top of a piano as Mills played it. Muffin the Mule was supported by a host of other puppets who were made by Stanley Maile. The characters included Crumpet the Clown, Grace the Giraffe, Hubert the Hippo, Katy the Kangaroo, Kirri the Kiwi, Louise the Lamb, Monty the Monkey, Maurice and Doris the Mice, Oswald the Ostrich, Sally the Sea-lion, Peter Pup the dog, Poppy the Parrot, Mr. Peregrine Esquire the penguin, and Prudence and Primrose Kitten. Willie the Worm and Zebbie the Zebra. A separate series of 15-minute episodes, \"Muffin the Mule\", was broadcast from 1952, with his signature tune \"We want Muffin\". Muffin became a television star, and a wide range of spin-off merchandise was made using the Muffin character, including books, records, games and toys. A die-cast movable puppet was produced by Lesney Products, \"the first toy to be marketed under licence as a result of a successful TV appearances.\"\n\nThe BBC decided to discontinue the show in 1955 after Annette Mills' death and Muffin quickly moved to the new ITV channel. He was only briefly on the ITV, but this did not stop either Muffin the Mule or the Hogarth Puppets which continued their fifty years of touring. They went to every European country as well as Europe. Their Kiwi character was created at the instigation of the Governor of New Zealand.\n\nThe Hogarths welcomed other puppeteers to their home when they were not touring in Australia or Canada. The church halls that they had booked themselves in the 1930s were replaced by appearances in the West End. They were able to fund the training of two apprentices and their expertise was sought for major productions that requires puppetry. They created life size puppets of The Water Babies for a production at the Glynebourne Theatre. These puppets later appeared in Australia and they, together with arts grants, are credited with inspiring other puppet productions in the 1960s and 1970s.\n\nBy the time her husband died on 23 April 1985 they had retired to show their collection of puppets. Hogarth moved to Budleigh Salterton after her husband's death where her only child continued the family business. Hogarth died in a nursing home near her house on 9 April 1993, at the age of eighty-three.\n\nLegacy\nHogarth and her husband's puppets which they collected as they toured abroad are in a collection in London.\n\nIn 2003 it was announced that the BBC would recreate \"Muffin the Mule\", but Hogarth's naughty character would be replace by a helpful character and the series would have an animated Muffin.\n\nSome of the BBC episodes survive and are available. Some of the original series was included in a 2006 Doctor Who story titled \"The Idiot's Lantern\".\n\nReferences\n\n1910 births\n1993 deaths\nBritish puppeteers\nPeople from Surrey (before 1965)"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.",
"What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats",
"He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country.",
"Who did he take kickbacks from?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his \"puppets\" as governor.",
"Which governor was one of his \"puppets\"?",
"Edward I. Edwards"
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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How did he help Edwards get elected?
| 9 |
How did Hague help Edwards I. Edwards get elected?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
| true |
[
"James Frederick (J. Fred) Edwards (April 8, 1902 – February 9, 1978) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member who represented Perth in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1945 to 1967.\n\nBackground\nEdwards was born in Palmerston, Ontario in 1902. He operated the J. Fred Edwards Rexall Drug Store in Palmerston from at least 1938. Edwards was married to Thora McCartney (1897–1977) and they are buried at Palmerston Cemetery in Palmerston, Ontario.\n\nPolitics\nEdwards was elected in the general election in 1945, Edwards was re-elected in the general elections in 1948, 1951, 1955, 1959, and 1963. He served as a backbench supporter in the governments of George Drew, Thomas Laird Kennedy, Leslie Frost and John Robarts. Despite his lengthy time in office, Edwards did not serve in Cabinet, rather he served on a wide variety of Standing Committees of the Legislative Assembly, sitting on as many as ten committees, simultaneously. In the 1967 general election, Edwards lost by 187 votes to the Liberal candidate, Hugh Edighoffer. He retired from public life after the election.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs\n1902 births\n1978 deaths",
"Samuel Edwards (March 12, 1785 – November 21, 1850) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1819 to 1823 and from Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district from 1823 to 1827.\n\nEarly life\nSamuel Edwards was born in Chester Township, Pennsylvania. He studied law, was admitted to the Delaware County bar in 1806 and commenced practice in Chester, Pennsylvania.\n\nEdwards was originally a Federalist and was chairman of the 1812 meeting in Chester, Pennsylvania that denounced Congress for declaring war on Great Britain. However once the war was on he supported the U.S. effort. In April 1813, he and Thomas D. Anderson applied to the state and provided their personal funds as bond for military provisions and ammunition to arm a company of Soldiers from Chester during the War of 1812. The military provisions were sent to the Battle of Frenchtown to help fight the attack by British Admiral George Cockburn. The Chester troops marched to Elkton, Maryland to resist the British Forces.\n\nIn the summer of 1814, when Dr. Samuel Anderson raised the Mifflin Guards, Edwards joined as a private and served as company clerk.\n\nCareer\nWhile still in active service, Edwards was elected as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814 to 1816.\n\nIn 1819, Edwards was elected as a Federalist to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses and served until 1823. Edwards gradually fell away from the Federalist party. He trained under the leadership of Henry Clay but did not follow him into the Whig Party.\n\nIn 1825 Edwards was elected as a Jackson Federalist to the Eighteenth Congress from Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Navy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses.\n\nAfter leaving Congress in 1827, Edwards resumed the practice of law in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1832, he was elected Chief Burgess of Chester and served as Inspector of Customs in Chester from 1838 to 1842.\n\nHe was a director of the Delaware County National Bank and the Delaware Mutual Insurance Company. He also served as counsel for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.\n\nPersonal life\nEdwards daughter married the General and frontiersman Edward Fitzgerald Beale and his granddaughter married the last Czarist Russian Ambassador to the United States, George Bakhmeteff.\n\nHe died in Chester in 1850 and is interred in Chester Rural Cemetery.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nThe Political Graveyard\n\n1785 births\n1850 deaths\n19th-century American politicians\nAmerican bankers\nAmerican people of the War of 1812\nBurials at Chester Rural Cemetery\nFederalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives\nJacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives\nMembers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives\nMembers of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania\nPennsylvania Federalists\nPennsylvania Jacksonians\nPennsylvania lawyers\nPeople from Chester, Pennsylvania\nPeople from Delaware County, Pennsylvania"
] |
[
"Frank Hague",
"Boss of Jersey City",
"Did he commit any questionable acts?",
"He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics.",
"Did he do anything illegal?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash.",
"Did anyone attempt to prosecute him?",
"He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations",
"In what way was he \"Boss of Jersey City\"?",
"soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn.",
"What was his first act after obtainin control of the Democrats",
"He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country.",
"Who did he take kickbacks from?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his \"puppets\" as governor.",
"Which governor was one of his \"puppets\"?",
"Edward I. Edwards",
"How did he help Edwards get elected?",
"Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him."
] |
C_c4a055b3babf4549949cf3bbfdb13097_0
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After he became governor, how did Edwards help Hague?
| 10 |
After Edward's became governor, how did Edwards help Hague?
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Frank Hague
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Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands. Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature. Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups. Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner--Hague himself--the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm. CANNOTANSWER
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Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices.
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Frank Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.
Hague has a widely known reputation for corruption and bossism and has been called "the grandaddy of Jersey bosses". By the time he left office in 1947, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, according to legend, had a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash. However, according to New Jersey preservationist John Hallinan, the drawers were a traditional feature of 19th century partners desks and that "[t]he last thing [Hague] would need to do is take a bribe personally". As of October 2021, the desk was on display in City Hall.
During the height of his power Hague's political machine, known as "the organization", was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels. Hague's personal influence extended to the national level, influencing federal patronage, and presidential campaigns.
Early life
Francis "Frank" Hague, born in Jersey City, was the fourth of eight children to John D. and Margaret Hague (née Fagen), immigrants from County Cavan, Ireland. He was raised in Jersey City's Second ward, an area known as The Horseshoe due to its shape which wrapped around a railroad loop. The ward was created when the Republican-controlled legislature gerrymandered a district within Jersey City in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes.
By age 14, Hague was expelled from school prior to completing the sixth grade for poor attendance and unacceptable behavior. He worked briefly as a blacksmith's apprentice for the Erie Railroad. While training at a local gym for his own potential debut as a prizefighter, he arranged to become manager for Joe Craig, a professional lightweight boxer. Craig was successful enough to allow Hague to buy a few suits that made him appear successful. In 1896, Hague's apparent prosperity gained him the attention of local tavern owner "Nat" Kenny who was seeking a candidate for constable in the upcoming primary to run against the candidate of a rival tavern owner. Kenny provided Hague with $75 to "spread around", and Frank Hague quickly won his first election by a ratio of three-to-one.
Political career
Early success
Hague's victory in the Constable election brought him to the attention of Hudson County Democratic political boss "Little Bob" Davis, and Davis asked Hague to help get out Democratic votes for the upcoming 1897 Mayoral election. Hague's efforts were credited with generating large voter turnout in the Second Ward for the 1897 and 1899 elections. As a reward for his work, Hague was appointed as a deputy sheriff at a salary of $25 per week. Over this time, Hague took a leadership role in the Second Ward Democratic club.
In the 1901 Mayoral election, Republican Mark M. Fagan was elected. Hague's second ward was one of only two that voted Democratic. Hague survived a Republican challenge for a third term as Constable the following year.
The "Red Dugan" affair
As a ward leader, Hague was approached by a woman to provide assistance for her son, who had been arrested for passing a forged check. The son, Red Dugan, had been a classmate of Hague's in school. According to the Boston Evening Transcript of October 4, 1904, Dugan had deposited a forged check for $955 in the Peoples Bank of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and convinced the bank manager to let him withdraw $500. Hague ignored a subpoena to testify in Hudson County Court and traveled to Massachusetts to provide an alibi for Dugan. Hague and another deputy sheriff, Thomas "Skidder" Madigan, claimed that they had seen Dugan in Jersey City on the day of the alleged offense. Both were threatened with perjury charges.
Upon returning to Jersey City, Hague was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring the subpoena. He was fined $100 and stripped of his duties as Deputy Sheriff.
In spite of the resulting press coverage of the event, Hague was more deeply embraced by his constituency. Thomas Smith wrote: "But to the residents of the Horseshoe, Frank Hague had gone out of his way to help a friend – had practically given his livelihood to aid a brother." In the succeeding municipal election of 1905, which saw the return of incumbent Fagan to the office of mayor, Hague was elected to a fourth term as constable.
Ward leader
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with rudimentary social services. Hague took a job as a collector for a local brewery, leaving him with time to spend in the streets and the local taverns which were hubs of political activity. He also spent his time cleaning up the loose ends of the Second Ward's south-end Democratic Club to consolidate his power.
As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Bob Davis named Hague as the party leader for the Second Ward and arranged for Hague to be appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
Political reformer
Hague broke ties with "Boss" Davis in 1906 over a difference of opinion on a candidate for appointment to the city Street and Water Board. As a result, Hague supported H. Otto Wittpenn for mayor in the 1907 election. Wittpenn was a reformer who opposed the control Davis held over Hudson County politics. Over the objections of Davis, newly elected Mayor Wittpenn appointed Hague as chief custodian of City Hall – a "cushy" job with plenty of patronage opportunities. During the Wittpenn administration, Hague also became friendly with Wittpenn's secretary – a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher named A. Harry Moore.
The resulting battle for control of the Hudson County Democratic machine would ironically result in one of the greatest boosts to Hague's rise to power – the Walsh Act of 1911. In 1909 Davis, seeing support for Hague increasing, supported Wittpenn's re-election against former mayor Fagan. Hague's second ward produced the largest plurality of Wittpenn votes of any of Jersey City's 12 wards. Davis then arranged the appointment of Fagan to the Hudson County Tax Board. When Wittpenn's administration began facing troubles, including Fagan's discovery of a Pennsylvania Railroad property that had paid no taxes for four years, Wittpenn blamed Davis.
Seeking to curb the influence of Davis, Wittpenn announced his candidacy for Governor, stating "I have endured the machine as long as possible, but patience is no longer a virtue." Davis, in turn, prevailed upon Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, to oppose Wittpenn's candidacy. Wilson's victory was overwhelming even in Hague's ward, despite heavy-handed tactics used there. The Jersey Journal wrote: "Cops on duty were using clubs and blackjacks to assist Mayor Wittpenn and Frank Hague defeat the Davis men."
Wilson's reform-minded term as Governor saw the establishment of Presidential primary elections, introduced workers' compensation, and brought about passage of the Walsh Act which provided for a non-partisan commission form of municipal government that was greatly reflective of his academic writings in Congressional Government.
"Little Bob" Davis died of cancer shortly after the 1910 gubernatorial election leaving a vacuum in the power structure of the Hudson County Democrats. Wittpenn quickly endorsed the idea of converting Jersey City to a commission form of government, but was opposed by forces, including Hague, attempting to take control of the party. Hague campaigned heavily against the idea in the Horseshoe, claiming that such a system of citywide elected commissioners would erode the influence of the working-class and consolidate power among the city's elite. Wittpenn's opponents successfully petitioned for a change in the date of the vote on the charter change, moving it from September to mid-July, and the proposal was defeated. As a result of this campaign, Hague came under the scrutiny of The Jersey Journal, which had supported the proposed charter change. It was reported that Hague's older brother, a battalion chief on the city fire department, had been on "sick leave" for three years at full pay.
Hague reconciled with Wittpenn to support his re-election in 1911. Wittpenn then supported Hague's nomination for Commissioner of Streets and Water. Both were elected. The new position greatly expanded Hague's patronage authority. While City Hall employed a few dozen custodians, there were hundreds of workers in the Street and Water Department. Hague's work as head of the Department of Street Cleaners even convinced The Jersey Journal to endorse him as a "reform candidate" in the next election.
In the spring of 1913, having gained confidence in his own ability to assure himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government from the Mayor-Council model to a commission model under the recently adopted Walsh Act. This act would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department. The five commissioners would choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote for charter change passed, and the stage was set for Frank Hague's rise to power.
Commissioner
In 1913, the first election for the city commission saw 91 men on the ballot competing for five available seats on the commission. Hague finished fourth with 17,390 votes and was elected to the five-man commission. The only Wittpenn-supported candidate, A. Harry Moore, was also elected. As a result of having garnered the most votes (21,419) former mayor Fagan became the first mayor under this new form of government, and the only Republican to hold that title in Jersey City for the following 75 years. Hague was named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
Hague immediately set about reshaping the corrupt Jersey City police force with tough Horseshoe recruits. Hague spearheaded crackdowns on prostitution and narcotics trafficking, earning him favor with religious leaders. These enforcement acts went as far as Hague himself marching across local Vaudeville stages personally directing the shut down of "girlie shows." At the heart of this change was an inner cadre of officers known as the Zeppelin Squad or "zepps" who were personally loyal to Hague alone. The "zepps" would spy on, and report back to Hague about other members of the department. Eventually, Jersey City had one patrolman for every 3,000 residents, causing a marked decline in the city's once-astronomical crime rate.
Hague took steps to curb the police department's lackadaisical work ethic, punishing offenses that had gone unpunished for years. He also made much-needed improvements to the fire department; at the time he took office Jersey City's fire insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.
Upon discovering in early 1916 that millions of pounds of munitions were being stockpiled on the Jersey City waterfront, Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. to register concerns for the safety of his constituents. His meetings with Congressmen resulted in no action, Congress having decided that Jersey City was an "appropriate port." Hague's concerns were shown to be valid in July 1916 when the Black Tom explosion sent shrapnel flying across the city.
In 1917, Hague, with his reputation as the man who cleaned up the police force, ran for reelection. He put together a commission ticket called "The Unbossed." The ticket consisted of him, Parks Commissioner Moore, Revenue Commissioner George Brensinger, ex-judge Charles F.X. O'Brien and City Clerk Michael I. Fagan. It swept all five spots on the commission. Moore topped the poll, and traditional practice called for him to be appointed mayor. However, when the commission met for the first time on May 11, Hague was chosen as the new mayor.
Boss of Jersey City
Technically, Hague's only responsibility as mayor was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was merely first among equals, with no powers over and above the other four commissioners. However, soon after taking office, he wrested control of the Hudson County Democratic Party from Wittpenn. This allowed him to significantly influence the makeup of the commission in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. He soon built the organization into one of the most powerful political machines in the country. Hague himself became very wealthy, owning a $125,000 summer home in Deal, living in a large apartment in the best building in the city, and able to give a $50,000 altar to a local Catholic church. In 1941, Dartmouth professor Dayton David McKean wrote The Boss, a book about Hague's political machine, in which he estimated his amassed wealth at four million dollars on an annual mayoral salary of $8,000 a year.
He also had the support of a significant faction of Republicans which dated to his initial election as mayor, when he cut a deal with then-Governor Walter Edge in which Edge effectively ceded North Jersey to Hague in return for keeping South Jersey for himself. Also, as public safety commissioner (a post he held throughout his entire tenure), he controlled the two departments with the most patronage appointments in the city. This post also placed responsibility for maintaining public order in his hands.
Hague soon extended his influence statewide by helping to elect his "puppets" as governor. In the 1919 gubernatorial election, Hague endorsed State Senator Edward I. Edwards and aggressively campaigned for him. Edwards carried Hudson County by 50,000 votes, which was enough for him to win statewide by just under 15,000 votes. Hague proclaimed himself leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, and Edwards allowed him to recommend dozens of appointments to high state offices. Democrats won five out of eight gubernatorial races between 1919 and 1940, more often than not due to massive landslides in Hudson County. However, he was never able to extend his dominance to the state legislature.
Hague was able to stay in power despite a nearly constant effort to turn him out of office from 1921 onward. He was also able to avoid prosecution despite numerous federal and state investigations in part due to the fact he took most of his kickbacks in cash. However, from the early 1940s onward, many of the older ethnic groups started moving to the suburbs. They were replaced by Poles, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African-Americans. Hague never adapted his methods to the new groups.
Hague had little tolerance for those who dared oppose him publicly. He relied on two ordinances of dubious constitutionality to muzzle critics. A 1920 ordinance effectively required people making political speeches to obtain clearance from the chief of police. A 1930 ordinance gave the public safety commissioner—Hague himself—the power to turn down permits for meetings if he felt it necessary to prevent "riots, disturbances or disorderly assemblage." The latter ordinance was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, but continued to be enforced for several years after that decision. The police were also allowed to stop and search anyone without probable cause or a warrant after 9 pm.
President maker
In 1932, Hague, a friend of Al Smith, backed Smith against Franklin D. Roosevelt during the race for the Democratic nomination. When Roosevelt won the nomination, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague's support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Accusations of voter fraud
Hague's use of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. In 1937, for instance, Jersey City had 160,050 registered voters, but only 147,000 people who were at least 21 years old—the legal voting age.
In 1932, Governor Moore appointed a lawyer named Thomas J. Brogan, who had served as Hague's personal attorney in corruption hearings, to an associate Justice seat on the state's Supreme Court. Less than a year later Brogan was named as Chief Justice. In at least two instances of alleged voting fraud in the 1930s (Ferguson v. Brogan, 112 N.J.L. 471; Clee v. Moore, 119 N.J.L. 215; In re Clee, 119 N.J.L. 310), Brogan's court issued extraordinary rulings in favor of the Democratic machine, in one case asserting that the district superintendent of elections had no authority to open ballot boxes, and in another case ruling that the boxes could be opened, but no one had the right to look inside. Brogan also assigned himself to the Hudson County jurisdiction, thereby controlling the local grand jury process and squelching other election fraud cases.
Although Hague, like other political bosses of the time, was not above outright fraud at the polls, the keys to Hague's success were his matchless organizational skills and demand for complete loyalty from his subordinates. His command over the Democratic voters of Hudson County, a densely populated urban area in a state that was still mostly rural, made him a man to reckon with among state Democrats and Republicans alike. He was a close friend of Al Smith, the New York governor who would become the first Irish-American presidential candidate in 1928. In addition, Hague's support of Roosevelt for President was rewarded with a steady stream of perks that sustained Hague's organization throughout the Depression.
Retirement from politics
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control.
Edge's successor, fellow Republican Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power over state government. He led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Hague abruptly announced his retirement in 1947. However, he was able to have his nephew, Frank Hague Eggers, chosen as his successor. It was generally understood that Hague still held the real power. This ended in 1949 when John V. Kenny, a former Hague ward leader alienated by the appointment of Eggers, put together his own commission ticket. Due to the presence of a "third ticket," Kenny's ticket was able to oust the Hague/Eggers ticket from power, ending Hague's 32-year rule. Kenny soon set up a machine which proved every bit as corrupt as Hague's, but far less efficient at providing services.
Friend and foe to labor
Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career. For instance, Jersey City police were known for turning back strikebreakers, something unheard of during the 1920s. However, he became a savage opponent of labor organizers in the 1930s. The turnaround came about during a dispute with labor boss and former supporter Theodore "Teddy" Brandle, whose attempts to organize the work crews on the Pulaski Skyway construction project (1930–32) touched off a labor war so intense that local newspapers called it "the war of the meadows."
The rise of the CIO in the mid-1930s represented a threat to Hague's policy of guaranteeing labor peace to the sweatshop type industries that might otherwise have fled Jersey City's high property taxes. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
Death
Hague died on New Year's Day in 1956 at his 480 Park Avenue duplex apartment in Manhattan, New York City. While hundreds gathered to see the casket depart the funeral home, only four men were seen to remove their hats for the passing of the coffin. One woman present held an American Flag and a sign that read, "God have mercy on his sinful, greedy soul."
Hague was interred in a large mausoleum at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.
Legacy
Hague's pride and joy was the Jersey City Medical Center, which he began creating almost as soon as he became mayor. By the 1940s it had grown into a 10-building complex that provided virtually free medical care to Jersey City residents. At the time of its completion, the Medical Center was one of the biggest medical facilities in the country and included the Medical Center Hospital, Pollak Chest Diseases Hospital, Murdoch Hall, and Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named in honor of Hague's mother. The buildings, funded in part through federal funds obtained by Hague, are known for their Art Deco details, including marble walls, terrazzo floors, etched glass, and decorative moldings. Even at the time the Medical Center was too large to operate cost-effectively. In 2005 the 14 acre complex (much of which had fallen into disuse) was sold to a private developer who began converting two towers into a luxury condominium complex called the Beacon.
Quotes
"We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.' You never heard a real American talk in that manner." – speech to the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, January 12, 1938.
"Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!" – speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City, November 10, 1937.
See also
List of mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Notes
References
(originally published—Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940).
External links
Full text of the decision from FindLaw.com
Frank Hague Page at Jersey City History
The Life and Times of Frank Hague (2001) A five-part radio program
The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
1876 births
1956 deaths
American people of Irish descent
People from Deal, New Jersey
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Political corruption in the United States
Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey
American political bosses
American political bosses from New Jersey
New Jersey Democrats
Burials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Catholics from New Jersey
American anti-communists
Nucky Johnson's Organization
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"Edward Irving Edwards (December 1, 1863 – January 26, 1931) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 37th governor of New Jersey from 1920 to 1923 and in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1929.\n\nLife and career\nEdwards was born in 1863 in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Emma J. (Nation) and William W. Edwards. Edwards attended the Jersey City public schools and New York University. He later studied law in the office of his brother, William David Edwards, who was also a state senator. On November 14, 1888, he married Blanche Smith. They had two children, Edward Irving, Jr. and Elizabeth Jules. He engaged in banking and in the general contracting business. He later became president and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Jersey City.\n\nEdwards entered politics and became part of the Democratic Organization, being elected state senator in 1918. He became a friend and close political ally of Mayor Frank \"Boss\" Hague, who ran the Democratic machine in Hudson County, and later the whole state of New Jersey. Hague supported Edwards's gubernatorial run in 1919.\n\nAt the end of his term, forbidden by the state constitution to run for a consecutive term, he ran for the United States Senate in 1922. Campaigning against the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) and with the support of the Hague Democratic Political Machine, Edwards defeated incumbent Republican Joseph S. Frelinghuysen by almost 90,000 votes and served from March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1929.\n\nAfter six years in the Senate, Edwards ran for re-election against Republican Hamilton Kean in 1928. Kean came out against Prohibition also which hurt Edwards who used his \"Applejack Campaign\" so successfully in the past. Also, Edwards could not overcome the \"Coolidge Prosperity\" that was sweeping the country. He lost by over 230,000 votes, having 41.8% of the vote to Kean's 57.8%.\n\nAfter returning to Jersey City in March 1929, his luck turned for the worse. His wife had died in 1928 and his relationship with Mayor Hague went downhill when Hague supported A. Harry Moore instead of Edwards for governor. He went broke in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and was implicated in an electoral fraud scandal.\n\nDeath\nHe was diagnosed with skin cancer and shot himself in his apartment at 131 Kensington Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey on January 26, 1931. He was 67 years old. He was buried in Bayview – New York Bay Cemetery in the plot of his older brother, William David Edwards, who died in 1916.\n\nSee also\n List of governors of New Jersey\n List of people with reduplicated names\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Biography for Edward I. Edwards (PDF), New Jersey State Library\n for Edward Irving Edwards\n New Jersey Governor Edward Irving Edwards, National Governors Association\n\n1863 births\n1931 suicides\nAmerican Episcopalians\nAmerican politicians who committed suicide\nBurials at Bayview – New York Bay Cemetery\nDemocratic Party state governors of the United States\nDemocratic Party United States senators\nGovernors of New Jersey\nNew Jersey Democrats\nNew Jersey state senators\nNew York University alumni\nPoliticians from Jersey City, New Jersey\nSuicides by firearm in New Jersey\nCandidates in the 1920 United States presidential election\n20th-century American politicians\nUnited States senators from New Jersey\n1931 deaths",
"Johannes Cornelis Brons\n(6 August 1884 – 12 May 1964) was a judge, Governor of Suriname from 1944 until 1948, and President of the High Court of Justice of Suriname.\n\nBiography\nBrons was born on 6 August 1884 in The Hague. He studied law at Leiden University, and received his doctorate in 1909. Between 1909 and 1926, he worked as a lawyer and prosecutor in Rotterdam.\n\nIn 1926, Brons went to Suriname, served on the High Court of Justice of Suriname, and became the president of the court in 1929. He served until 1943. In 1930, he was elected to the Colonial Estates, and subsequently became its President. In 1935, he resigned from the Estates.\n\nBrons served as Acting Governor-General of Suriname from 16 August 1935 until 12 April 1936, September 1938 until January 1939, and again on 3 January 1944. On 26 July 1944, he was officially appointed Governor, and served until 5 July 1948.\n\nDuring his tenure as governor, Brons tried to reform suffrage which was limited to wealthy men. His first attempt was rejected by the Estates of Suriname. His second attempt to award suffrage to all who had finished primary school passed in September 1945. After his tenure, in July 1948, universal suffrage was established in Suriname.\n\nBetween 1948 and 1949, Brons worked at the Dutch Embassy in Havana. He died on 12 May 1964 in The Hague, at the age of 79.\n\nHonours and Legacy \nBrons was commander in the Order of Orange-Nassau, and knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.\n\nIn 1948, a square in Paramaribo which contained the Lanti Djari football field, was renamed Mr. Bronsplein in his honour.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences \n\n1884 births\n1964 deaths\nGovernors of Suriname\nDiplomats from The Hague\nLawyers from The Hague\nPoliticians from The Hague\nSurinamese politicians\nSurinamese judges\nLeiden University alumni\nCommanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau\nKnights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion"
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"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy"
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what is part of her legacy?
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what is part of Gwen Stefani's legacy?
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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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Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics.
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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 |
[
"What the World Needs Now is...Jackie DeShannon is a compilation CD by Jackie DeShannon, released by Capitol Records as catalog number 829786 in 1994. It serves as a great introduction to the legacy of recordings by one of the most remarkable forces in the female singer/songwriter genre. These tracks are culled from the vaults of her tenure at Liberty Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\nJackie DeShannon albums\n1994 compilation albums\nCapitol Records compilation albums",
"Weapons of Legacy is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast.\n\nContents\nIt introduces weapons that have histories and abilities matching their history, as well as rules governing such weapons in a campaign.\n\nLegacy Weapons\nLegacy weapons are unique weapons that have been forged or used by legendary beings and are themselves unique in regards to gameplay in that their magical abilities start out locked. Unlocking them requires some sort of sacrifice on the part of the wielder, in varying amounts, referred to as least legacy, lesser legacy, and greater legacy, in order from weakest to strongest.\n\nThe sacrifices required vary with each weapon, but they include some sort of permanent reduction in a player's abilities, i.e. loss of maximum hit points, permanent penalties to certain skills or abilities, etc. These penalties end when the wielder forswears the weapon.\n\nIf a wielder of a legacy weapon defeats the wielder of a different legacy weapon or artifact with it in combat, the winning legacy weapon inherits an ability from the defeated foe's legacy weapon/artifact.\n\nTable of Contents\n The Legacy: What are Legacy weapons, how do they affect your campaign, and why are they so unique?\n Heroes of Legacy: This includes feats necessary to include legacy items into a campaign, as well as new spells and lore about legacy weapons.\n Items of Legacy: This is a collection of sample legacy items, including their histories.\n Founding Legacies: This provides information on how to create a legacy weapon in the campaign world.\n Optional Rules: This discusses anything that was not covered in the previous four chapters and is not necessary to bring legacy weapons into a campaign. This chapter also includes NPCs with legacy weapons.\n\nPublication history\nWeapons of Legacy was written by Bruce R. Cordell, Kolja Raven Liquette, and Travis Stout, and was published in July 2005. Cover art was by Henry Higginbotham, with interior art by Steven Belledin, Dennis Crabapple, Jeff Easley, Wayne England, Fred Hooper, Doug Kovacs, David Martin, Jim Nelson, William O'Connor, Michael Phillippi, Wayne Reynolds, Dan Scott, and Franz Vohwinkel.\n\nBruce Cordell explains how the book is all about \"the stuff\" - items that player characters can obtain: \"Sure--this book is completely about the stuff. However, in developing an item of legacy's progression, an intimate knowledge of player character ability had to be kept in mind at all times. Because D&D characters are so concerned with their stuff, I'd say this book is as much about characters as any other player book, if not more so.\"\n\nReferences\n\nDungeons & Dragons books"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"what is part of her legacy?",
" Stefani has been referred to as a \"Pop Princess\" by several contemporary music critics."
] |
C_5c81964b050442e7a38ddbe3a1cfcfa0_0
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why is she called that?
| 2 |
why is Gwen Stefani called a "Pop Princess"?
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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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In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music
|
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
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"\"Why\" is the first solo single of Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 16 March 1992. It was taken from her debut solo album, Diva (1992), and reached number five in the United Kingdom. In the United States, \"Why\" peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was also a big hit internationally, reaching number one in Italy and peaking within the Top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Ireland and five other countries. In 2015, Stereogum ranked \"Why\" number one in their list of the 10 best Annie Lennox songs.\n\nCritical reception\nJennifer Bowles from Associated Press described the song as an \"emotional\" and \"hypnotizing ballad\". Larry Flick from Billboard called it a \"soft-yet-vivid ballad that beautifully showcases the rich and distinctive tone of her voice\". He noted the \"sophisticated nature of track [that] will strain at (and should ultimately knock down) the tight boundaries of top 40 radio.\" Randy Clark and Bryan DeVancy from Cashbox viewed it as a \"soulful ballad\", that \"is stirring attention, which is, of course, Annie's forte.\" Keith Wallace from Columbia Daily Spectator said that \"Why\" \"wants to be a soulful ballad, but it's so drippy and goofy that it doesn't come anywhere close.\" Stephanie Zacharek from Entertainment Weekly noted how \"languorously [Lennox] stretches that word across several measures as if she were unfurling a length of satin.\" Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report stated that the \"haunting\" song is \"a testament to her singing and writing prowess.\" Another editor, Kent Zimmerman called it \"spiritually ultrasonic, breathtakingly sophisticated, lyrically telling and congruently adult in texture and tempo.\" \n\nMike Ragogna from HuffPost wrote that Lennox' vocal approach \"evokes\" Sting and Paul Simon and added \"she declares, \"This is the book I never read, these are the words I never said, this is the path I'll never tread\", then went on to say, \"These are the dreams I'll dream instead\", making this her sideways stab at creating her own \"My Way\" (as the artist points out in the notes [of her 2009 collection]).\" A reviewer from Music & Media commented that the singer \"confidently goes AC on her first solo effort\" and it is \"gently moving and highly polished. She could hardly move farther away from the stirring rock of Eurythmics.\" Nick Griffiths from Select said that it is \"the sort of tasteful soulful ballady thing you 'd probably expect of her by now, and when the tide of tasteful soulful balladiness swamps her halfway through it's no surprise either.\" Slant Magazines Eric Henderson wrote that \"Why\" is \"hardly the sort of melodramatic setting we'd imagine from an album whose very name evokes histrionic pretense. But Annie Lennox isn't and has never been a representative pop diva. Her body is lanky and angular instead of curvaceously plush. Her exaggerated facial features (capped off with a most spectacular set of cheekbones that she wisely never allowed her hair to grow long enough to cover) are matched in androgen-fabulousness only by her tremulously guttural alto.\" Harry Dean from Smash Hits called it a \"glistening beauty\".\n\nChart performance\n\"Why\" was successful on the charts in several countries, peaking at number one in Italy. In Europe, it reached the top 10 also in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it peaked at number three. In the UK, the single reached number five in its third week at the UK Singles Chart, on 5 April 1992. Additionally, it was a top-20 hit in Austria, Germany and Spain. Outside Europe, \"Why\" reached number seven on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada, number 15 in New Zealand, number 17 in Australia, and number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. But on the Billboard Adult Contemporary, it was an even bigger hit, peaking at number six.\n\nMusic video\nThe accompanying music video for the song was directed by British director Sophie Muller and was filmed in Venice, Italy during the shoot for the Diva album cover. The video shows Lennox sitting in front of a vanity mirror staring and marveling at herself before slowly putting on makeup. By the middle of the video, Lennox is fully made up and in the outfit she wore on the Diva album cover. The rest of the video consists of shots of Lennox posing for the cameras along with in-between shots of her singing the song. The video won Lennox an award for Best Female Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. It was later published on YouTube in October 2009. As of September 2020, the video has got more than 46,8 million views.\n\nImpact and legacy\nStereogum ranked \"Why\" number one in their list of the 10 best Annie Lennox songs in 2015. They wrote, \"And while the album maybe didn't live up to those hopes, Divas first single remains an enduring classic. A bold enough move to have your first single be a torch ballad of regret, but this one is a weeper for the ages. It's a musical version of the Kübler-Ross model with Lennox hitting the grief stage as she welcomes her ex-lover \"down to the water's edge\" to \"cast away those doubts\", spilling out \"the contents of her head\" during the depression stage, and then crumpling to the floor repeating the phrase, \"You don't know how I feel\" as acceptance sets in. This was the song that you put on repeat to cope with that awful breakup because in every syllable she sings, you can hear that Lennox has been there too and feels just as bad as you do.\"\n\nTrack listings\n7-inch single\n\nCD maxi\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nDJ Sammy version\n\nIn 2005 Spanish producer DJ Sammy covered \"Why\" with vocals from German singer Britta Medeiros. \"Why\" is the second single from the album The Rise. The music video features DJ Sammy in a room with a mixboard that he uses to create three holographic women that sing the song.\n\nFormats and track listings\nUS CD single\n \"Why\" – 4:00\n \"Why\" – 4:25\n \"Why\" – 6:44\n \"Why\" – 5:55\n \"Why\" – 6:17\n \"Why\" – 7:10\n \"Why\" – 7:58\n \"Why\" – 7:58\n \"Why\" – 9:21\n\nGermany CD single\n \"Why\" \n \"Why\" \n \"Why\" \n \"Cheba\"\n\nAustralia CD single\n \"Why\" \n \"Why\" \n \"Why\" \n \"Why\" \n\nUK CD single\n \"Why\" – 3:28\n \"Why\" – 6:43\n \"Why\" – 6:19\n \"Why\" – 5:55\n \"Why\" – 8:46\n \"Why\" music video\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1990s ballads\n1992 singles\n2005 singles\nAnnie Lennox songs\nDJ Sammy songs\nMTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video\nSongs written by Annie Lennox\nPop ballads\nSong recordings produced by Stephen Lipson\n1992 songs\nArista Records singles\nSoul ballads\nNumber-one singles in Italy",
"Sehra Main Safar () is a Pakistani romantic drama serial premiered on Hum TV on 18 December 2015. It is produced by Momina Duraid under MD Productions and written by Sarwat Nazir.\n\nSynopsis\n\nEpisode 1 \nSehra Main Safar is the story of a girl, Iqra (Zarnish Khan), who likes being in a house and doing household chores. She has never thought of doing a job and never wants to. Her father, Farooq is a very genius man and when he retires, the indication is that the responsibility of maintaining the house will land on Iqra. Her father is the uncle of Ayaz (Ali Kazmi), who likes Iqra. Watch the cute story of Iqra and Ayaz unfold.\n\nEpisode 2 \nAyaz says to his mother for his love and marriage to Iqra. His mother says positive. In other side, Shagufta comes into Iqra's home for her marriage to her brother. Iqra first says negative. Ayaz calls Iqra as his mother tells him about Iqra's marriage to her neighbour. Iqra says that it is her parents' wish, and as they wish, she will do. Fauzia comes into Iqra's home to tell them about the marriage of Iqra and Ayaz. Her father first refuses for this proposal but then accepts. Her father makes money online and puts his money in the bank. Thieves steal the money which results in Farooq's heart attack and thus they go to hospital.\n\nEpisode 3 \nAyaz helps Farooq in hospital. Farooq recovers but still has a stroke. Farooq needs someone to push his leg or arm because he has previously suffered a heart attack. Aliya does this. Farooq expresses the wish that Iqra must be married to his nephew Ayaz. Aliya tells this to Iqra and she agrees because it's her parents' wish. Fouzia also tells Ayaz about his marriage to Iqra but he refuses as she has already a proposal from Shagufta's brother.\n\nEpisode 4 \nThe episode starts with Fauzia expressing the wish to visit Iqra's home and Iqra making chicken and potato. Aliya denies her that it will be a fast food for her (Iqra)'s paternal aunt. Fauzia calls Farooq, who is already surviving a stroke, and tells him that Iqra must get a job in order to marry Ayaz. Farooq weeps but accepts. Aliya says about who called him? He says that Fauzia and expresses his wish that Iqra must do a job in order to marry Ayaz. Aliya asks what will she do? He says that his daughter will do much to achieve success. Aliya goes to Farooq who has not slept yet. Iqra comes and says that she will do much to achieve success. Farooq says that he knows that she will do much. Ayaz eats dinner with his mother. Her mother says him that his refusing amused her. He said that she wants to marry a rich man and he is not a rich man. Shagufta calls Aliya instead of Iqra. Aliya tells Iqra that she wants Iqra to be in her home. Iqra goes to Shagufta's home, and Shagufta lies on the bed. Iqra asks about her condition, and she says she is fine. Iqra tells her about her job and says that she will not marry for a while. Aasma annoys her mother that she wants 2,000 rupees for her farewell party. She says that she must refuse because of her father's condition. Iqra tells her that it is not good as her father is ill. She says that she is lucky as she is only in the home and never goes anywhere. Iqra gives her 600 rupees but she refuses and says this is very short money and it's better to not go anywhere. At night, Iqra calls Aasma that she will do much to achieve success. Aasma says that she will give tuition to others in order to become rich. Iqra says it's a great plan. She goes office tomorrow after greeting her father.\n\nEpisode 5 \nThe episode starts with Iqra who is in the office and meets Sonia. Iqra forgot to take lunch with her and eats Sonia's lunch with her permission. Aliya says that without Iqra this home is silent and also forgot to make and eat a lunch because she thought that Iqra is there because she always made lunch for all. Iqra comes to home, greets all and says that today was successful. The next day, Aliya gives her lunch and she goes in a van. A man touches her but she tries to give distance to him. He goes away. She goes to the office. This time a man says that this is not a rule of doing office work. Iqra becomes sad for a long time. Sonia tries to console her but she can't. There she meets with Asif and his girlfriend. Asif always greets Iqra on a new day. When she returns, there she waits for the van but it doesn't come. A same man comes to take her but she refuses. Ayaz comes and takes her to her home. Ayaz talks Iqra about her marriage but she says that she has a job and she will work and she will not marry until her father recovers. She goes home. Aliya asks about why she is late she says that Ayaz gone today to take off her.\n\nEpisode 6 \nThe episode starts with Aliya saying to Iqra that why she had come with Ayaz in bike. Iqra said her mother to forgive her, Aliya accepted. Ayaz comes to home bit his mother ignored to talk with him. He said her to forgive him as she is angry on his thing which he told her in morning. Fouzia forgiven. Aliya comes and tells Farooq all things Iqra done. Farooq says that Iqra is a meature girl and she will understand. Aasma comes and says that \"why are you feeling irritated\" She says to Iqra. And she replies that Ayaz today dropped you? Iqra said yes, she said that's good. Iqra said her that she (Iqra) is tired and make her clothes iron. Nabeel said to Iqra that why she don't given time to him and given to Ayaz. Nabeel says that this cousin's relation is good that whenever she make others her cousin. Shazia says that \"why you are taking this thing on your heart, there work is to talk to women\". Sir called Iqra and said that \"Nabeel doesn't does good thing that's why ignore him\". And says that \"She (Iqra) is very good worker and says that she work little hard.\" Iqra becomes happy. Iqra waits for Bus, Ayaz comes and says that he drop her in to home. Iqra ignored and said that she will not go with him. Ayaz asks reason, she says that Bus has come, she will go. Ayaz said to Fouzia that he wants to marry Iqra. Fouzia says \"Are you mad? You denied to marry and now you accepted\". Fouzia says that you don't do fasting, i will do. Show took 1-Month leap. Shazia says Iqra to go with her to do shoppong. She bought many things and clothes. Aliya opens door and says that where were you? Iqra says that why you start asking things. Iqra goes to her father and says that she has bought many things. Aliya says that why she done this? She bought a jacket for her father. She gives 27,000 to her mother as her salary. Aliya says that she will use this money good. Iqra says to Farooq that Do you do exercise. Farooq says that yes. Aasma comes and says that what she bought for her (Aasma). She says nothing but she will give 500 rupees. Aliya says that why she gone to shopping. She says that it was Shazia's wish. Aliya says that why she gave Aasma 500 rupees. Aasma, in laugh voice, snatched that. Aliya calculates bill and says to Farooq that Iqra didn't spend money because how food and other things be done. Aliya and Farooq say that Iqra is good girl. Asif says to sir that payment has been done. Sir calls Iqra, says her that she is well worker and she can be a good woman. Sir says that payment has been increased by 5000 of your monthly salary. Shazia says that why she uses her money in home, she says it will be good for her parents. Fouzia goes to Farooq's home. Aliya comes in the room and says him that she will use this money on right things. Farooq says that medicines also. She says that she willm Iqra prepares for College. Aliya says Iqra many things to buy. Iqra comes with Shazia and says her to buy shoes. She ignored to buy. She buys. Fouzia comes to Farooq's home and says that she has come to marry Ayaz to Iqra. He ignores. She says that not fastly we will marry but many years later. Farooq accepts but Aliya upsets. Farooq says that it is my order that now Iqra will now only marry with Ayaz. Iqra calls Aliya qnd says that she has bought as you said as well as her shoe. She said that it is more old and becomes angry. Iqra also becomes angry.\n\nEpisode 7 \nThe episode starts with Iqra thinking of works which she done before office (i.e. greeting Farooq, Farooq says that Iqra will do anything). Aasma calls her and says her to give her dress. Iqra says Aasma to go out for 1 minute. Aasma comes to Aliya, says her that her aapi has done bad deed with her. Aliya says she comes from office tha's why she has a tension, so you don't say me. Iqra sleeps. Aliya comes and kisses her and puts blanket on her. Farooq says what happened? Aliya said \"I think Iqra has tension today, she has done bad deed.\" And says that \"She has bought Shoes that's why i gave her that this's not good.\" Farooq says \"She is an office worker, she will biy anything on het choice, you don't say her anything.\" Fouzia maintains hairs. Ayaz comes and says that are you fine? He gives her water. Fouzia says that Iqra will accept this marriage and Farooq and Aliya has also. You don't do anything. Aliya calls Iqra but Iqra is at office. She says that what will happen, she will ne tired. Iqra comes and says Kazmi Iqra says Shazia that the shoes which we bought yesterday were not liked by Aliya. Shazia says that not problem and says that why you told that you have got bonus of 5,000. Iqra says that her brain is bad. Shazia says her to ready for her bonus. Iqra says her that it's good. Any other woman says her that another man has got job instead of Nabeel. Iqra comes office and greets counter. Shehreyar comes and likes Iqra. After his coming, all girls see Shehreyar and say them handsome. Nida says peon that what his name. Peon said \"Shehreyar Ahmed\". Sir called Shehreyar and said that he always do good works. He is the son of a factory manager and works for his own benefit. Nida says Kareem (Peon) to ask him what they (Shehreyar and Sir) are talking. He said all things. She said to Iqra if she liked him but Iqra refused. Sir called Iqra and said him that she is a good worker and bonus has given to your account. Sir called Shehreyar, said him that Iqra is a good worker, you also should bem Iqra comes to counter and says him to have bonus. Iqra became happy as she took. Iqra says that she will give this money to her guardians. Iqra says that she will don't tell lie she will give this to her guardian. Shazia says that there is also right of your to spend in various conditions. Iqra refused. Iqra comes to home, gives 42,000 to Aliya and says she to renovate home. Farooq said that she must save for herself. Iqra refused to do. Aasma had to buy 2 suits. Aliya refused but Aliya accepted. Iqra works in computer. Shehreyar says Iqra that if she can e-mail. Iqra refused. Shehreyar says that he has listened that Iqra will do. Iqra finally accepted. Nida says Iqra and says what Shehreyar said. She said it was work of e-mail. Nida said Shehreyar and gave him e-mail attachment and said to always say her to give attachment. Iqra comes home and says that why she broke up some cups. She said why is it happening and she said that she will not take tea and said that to broke up remaining cups. Aliya says Farooq that Iqra was a good woman and now she had said that don't waste money on unuseful works. Iqra called Aliya and said that she is shameful for her deed. She said that if she will not forgive, she will not be able to sleep. Aasma wakes up and Shagufta comes and says that she had come after long days. She says that she had come today to take proposal of Aasma because her brother don't like office women.\n\nEpisode 9 \nThe episode starts with Shazia telling Iqra that Shehreyar is interested in her, and she should be a little nicer to him. After work it starts raining heavily while Iqra waits for the bus. Shehreyar asks Iqra to let him drive her home. Iqra hesitates, but Shehreyar insists. In the car, Shehreyar says to Iqra \"You look good when you smile, \" to which she responds \"In our society when a girl smiles, people take the wrong impression, therefore it is better not to smile. I think we should go home now, the rain has also settled down a bit.\"\nAt home, Aliya asks why Iqra came so late. When Iqra tells her, Aliya is furious, and asks her when she forbid her to come home with Ayaz on his bike, why she thought it was appropriate to come home with her male colleague. Iqra becomes angry at this and says some harsh words to her mother.\nFouzia come and said Ayaz said Iqra how is she? she said fine. Ayaz said you are looking sad. Are you not happy with Aasma's marriage. She said no. Ayaz talked, Iqra said Had you any work, if you have to meet Aasma, she is outside. Ayaz gone outside but with seeing Iqra. Ayaz brought tea for Fouzia. Ayaz said how is tea? she said fine like every day. Ayaz asked Had you meet Iqra? she said no. He said i meet. He added that \"She was looking sad and this is not good that Aasma married instead of Iqra\". Fouzia said that she also said this to Farooq but he said that this depended on the condition. Aasma wake up and was making up hairs. Iqra came, she said you are looking good. Iqra said that she is going tell this to Aliya. Aliya came and said where is Iqra? she said that she has gone. Iqra was waiting for bus. Shehreyar came and said her that to come in his car. They talked. Shehreyar and Iqra reached at office. Nida saw her and said to Shazia that when she got rich man, she talked and done many things for her. Farooq called Aliya and said that he has got money of the month! and given the money to Aliya. He also said that Iqra helped them in the difficulty. Aliya said that with being mother, i didn't explain my daughter because she does what she wants. Iqra was happy and given reports. Shazia said that Nida said that you came with Shehreyar today. Iqra said that today bus didn't come that's why i do so. Asma's marriage was taking place. Ayaz said her that whom is she waiting? Ayaz talked with Iqra. Iqra stopped the conversation to go with Shehreyar. Ayaz also seen her and gone and also seeing. Shehreyar and Iqra were talking. Iqra decided to meet Shehreyar with Farooq. Fouzia also saw her in angry face. Fouzia and Ayaz were also talking about Shehreyar as this is 1st time done in their family that Iqra has made friendship with man whom she don't know. She says that she will take Marriage date from Farooq. Iqra goes in office this time again with Shehreyar. Akbar also saw them talking each other. Iqra visited to Akbar's staff room for main work. There was another man whom she given assignment. The other man thought that Iqra is not like that. Iqra also listened what they said. Iqra was thinking of a better solution. Nida and Shazia gone to room with the permission of Iqra. Shehreyar said Iqra to take off him but she refused as all are making fun of this thing as love. Shehreyar said that what happened, i can't see you in condition. Iqra lied that she has headache. Shehreyar said if you will not go, i will also not. Iqra said to go with Shehreyar for lunch to Shehreyar. Asma said that All my in-laws care of me to Aliya. She said that she misses her to Aliya. Aliya said that she is not as she was before. They talked more. Iqra came home, she saw a car, she said whose car is this, he said it is of Aasma. She came home, greeted all. Aasma said that \"i miss you more than others\" Iqra became jealous and said that why do you marry him? you should be with us? she said it was as Farooq said. She said them to go out she has to sleep but was she still angry.⋅···\n\nCast \n Zarnish Khan as Iqra\n Ali Kazmi as Ayaz\n Emmad Irfani as Sheheryar\n Anoushey Ashraf as Annie\n Lubna Aslam as Fouzia\n Shehryar Zaidi as Farooq \n Humaira Zaheer as Aliya\n Aiman Khan as Anaya\n Erum Azam as Asma\n Esha Noor as Ayesha\n Afraz Rasool as Maamul\n Wajid Kazi\n Hania Naqvi\n Shaman Bashir\n\nReception\nThe drama series became popular soon after it went on-air. It made Hum TV the slot leader on Fridays at the 9pm slot. Just in its first episode, in the U.K., Sehra Main Safar drew in 49,400 viewers at 9pm. This rating further increased and Sehra Main Safar was most watched on Hum Europe in the U.K. as its second episode had a rating of 62,900 viewers. Rising even more, the third episode of Sehra Main Safar in the U.K. registered 69,300 viewers on New Year's Day. The drama was most watched on Hum Europe again on both 8 January 2016 and 15 January 2016. On its 4th episode (8 Jan), SMS attracted 55,500 viewers but on its 5th episode (15 Jan), in the U.K., Sehra Main Safar topped the ratings with its highest score of 78,700 viewers. The repeat of the 5th episode which aired on 22 Jan in UK, also pulled in 78,100 viewers. The twelfth episode aired on 11 March 2016, in U.K., and garnered the most ratings for the show and the channel on the night with 98,800 viewers. In Pakistan it also received much positive feedback. Its 7th episode gained 3.0 TRPs, the 11th episode had 3.2 TRPs and the 15th had 2.5 TRPs.\n\nOriginal soundtrack \n\nThe song of Sehra Main Safar is its original soundtrack. It is produced by Momina Duraid in label of MD Productions and written by Sarwat Nazir, a fiction writer.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\nHum TV original programming\nPakistani drama television series\n2015 Pakistani television series debuts\n2016 Pakistani television series endings"
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"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"what is part of her legacy?",
" Stefani has been referred to as a \"Pop Princess\" by several contemporary music critics.",
"why is she called that?",
"In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of \"100 Greatest Women in Music"
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C_5c81964b050442e7a38ddbe3a1cfcfa0_0
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does she have anyone that influenced her career>
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does Gwen Stefani have anyone that influenced her career?
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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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Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive.
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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
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[
"Sarah Mikovski, is a French singer-songwriter based in Lyon.\n\nCareer\n\nMikovski was classically trained at the Maîtrise de la Loire in Montbrison. She went on to study at the Conservatoire de Lyon, where she became influenced by jazz and funk. She describes her sound as \"poptimistic\".\n\nShe composes her songs a cappella while walking, and performs as a duo with Ivan Callot, who does the arrangements. For her pseudonym, she chose a Polish-sounding last name as a way to \"break all stereotypes\" and create a persona allowing her to have more fun in her shows. Mikovski describes herself as a \"beast on stage\".\n\nMikovski is influenced by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Pomme, Camille, and Janelle Monáe.\n\nMikovski has earned several awards for her music, including the Centre de la Chanson de Paris' grand prize in 2015.\n\nDiscography \n\n Sarah Mikovski (2014)\n Ressuscitée (2015)\n Ma Vie en Rose (2016)\n Pôle nord (sortie prévue le 14 février 2020)\n\nReferences\n\n1980s births\nLiving people\nFrench songwriters\n21st-century French singers\n21st-century French women singers",
"Lisa Taylor is an American R&B singer. She is best known for her solo album Secrets of the Heart, including the R&B singles \"Did You Pray Today?\" (#40) and \"Secrets of the Heart\" (#41) and for singing as a featured and background vocalist for artists including Burt Bacharach, Janet Jackson, Philip Bailey, Patti LaBelle, and Elvis Costello, among others.\n\nEarly life and education \nTaylor grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Her family was actively involved in the local church singing gospel, where she drew her inspiration. As a child, her gospel musical roots were firmly planted while listening to Albertina Walker, The Caravans, James Cleveland, Shirley Caesar, The Mississippi Mass Choir, and Andre Crouch. She would be influenced later by jazz artists including Quincy Jones, Wes Montgomery, and Freddie Hubbard, as well as R&B artists such as The Jackson Five, Natalie Cole, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, EWF, Minnie Ripperton, and Deniece Williams.\n\nCareer \nTaylor began her career as a session singer in the 1980's. She was signed to Giant Records by Irving Azoff. Her album, Secrets of the Heart was released in 1992. She performed the title track on Soul Train on May 9, 1992. Other performers on the show included El Debarge with Chante Moore, and Kris Kross. \n\nShe released the single \"Don't Waste My Time\" from The Meteor Man soundtrack which peaked at #94 in 1993.\n\nTaylor was a featured and background vocalist with Burt Bacharach in the 90s, including touring and recording. Kevin Courtney of the Irish Times reviewing \"Bacharach in Person\" wrote \"Singer Lisa Taylor duly obliged, singing a stunning version of Anyone Who Had A Heart, and anyone who had hairs on the back of their neck would have felt a jolt of electricity at the song's climax.\"\n\nShe was the featured vocalist for the band Colour Club on their second and third album releases.\n\nTaylor was lead vocalist for Rose Royce from 2000 - 2004.\n\nIn 2006, LaBelle covered Taylor's song \"Did You Pray Today\" on her \"The Gospel According to Patti LaBelle\" album.\n\nSingles\n\nSingles\n\nSelected credits\nBurt Bacharach - One Amazing Night\nBurt Bacharach & Elvis Costello - Sessions at West 54th Street\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Lisa Taylor. discogs.com\n \n\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nAmerican contemporary R&B singers\nAmerican singer-songwriters\nAmerican women singer-songwriters\nAfrican-American songwriters\n21st-century African-American women singers"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"what is part of her legacy?",
" Stefani has been referred to as a \"Pop Princess\" by several contemporary music critics.",
"why is she called that?",
"In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of \"100 Greatest Women in Music",
"does she have anyone that influenced her career>",
"Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive."
] |
C_5c81964b050442e7a38ddbe3a1cfcfa0_0
|
Is there anyone she influences?
| 4 |
Is there anyone Gwen Stefani influences?
|
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
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the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani.
|
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 |
[
"National Anthem of Nowhere is the second album by Canadian indie rock band Apostle of Hustle. It was released in Canada on February 6, 2007.\n\nAndrew Whiteman, the band's frontman and lead guitarist of Broken Social Scene, admires world music, and influences upon this album have included Cuban-style guitars and Spanish lyrics.\n\n\"There is a specific story to the album, to me,\" Whiteman says. \"There's a specific geography, which is under the rubric of the dockside. And there is a story. I wouldn't want to tell anyone the story, in case they've written their own. But it involves the supernatural, and various revolutionary statements.\" \n\nIn January 2007, the band launched a contest inviting fans to cover or remix the first track, \"My Sword Hand's Anger\".\n\n\"My Sword Hand's Anger\" reached No. 1 on CBC Radio 3's R3-30 chart the week of March 8, 2007.\n\nTrack listing \n \"My Sword Hand's Anger\" – 3:13\n \"National Anthem of Nowhere\" – 5:11\n \"The Naked & Alone\" – 4:36\n \"Haul Away\" – 3:28\n \"Cheap Like Sebastien\" – 3:37\n \"¡Rafaga!\" – 3:57\n \"Chances Are\" – 3:27\n \"A Rent Boy Goes Down\" – 4:07\n \"Fast Pony for Victor Jara\" – 3:25\n \"Justine, Beckoning\" – 4:55\n \"Jimmy Scott Is the Answer\" – 4:02\n \"NoNoNo\" – 3:18\n\nReferences \n\n2007 albums\nApostle of Hustle albums\nArts & Crafts Productions albums",
"Stefana McClure (born 1959) is an Irish visual artist.\n\nLife\nStefana McClure was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1959. She grew up in Belfast during \"the Troubles\". and it influences her work. She went to art college in London where she graduated in 1984 with a BA in Sculpture from Hornsey College of Art before moving to Japan for twelve years. There she completed post-graduate studies in paper making at Kyoto Seika University having won the Monbusho Scholarship. From there McClure moved to New York.\n\nHer work is included in museums and public collections across the US, Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom.\n\nShe is married to fellow artist Jill Baroff.\n\nSolo exhibitions\n Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2015)\n Bartha Contemporary, London (2017)\n Sleeper, Edinburgh, Scotland (2017)\n Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2018)\n\nReferences\n\n1959 births\nLiving people\nIrish artists"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"what is part of her legacy?",
" Stefani has been referred to as a \"Pop Princess\" by several contemporary music critics.",
"why is she called that?",
"In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of \"100 Greatest Women in Music",
"does she have anyone that influenced her career>",
"Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive.",
"Is there anyone she influences?",
"the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would \"pass out\" if she were to ever meet Stefani."
] |
C_5c81964b050442e7a38ddbe3a1cfcfa0_0
|
what songs did she sing?
| 5 |
what songs did Gwen Stefani sing?
|
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
|
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For
|
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 |
[
"I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing is the self-produced ninth album by American R&B singer Barry White, released in 1979 on the 20th Century-Fox Records label.\n\nI Love to Sing the Songs I Sing fulfilled White's 20th Century-Fox Records contract. White was increasingly dissatisfied with that label's management when Russ Regan left the label to form Millennium Records and felt that he was being ignored in terms of promotion at the time. He then left the company and signed a custom label contract with CBS Records to release future material under his own Unlimited Gold imprint. White's first album on his new label, The Message Is Love, was released seven months and six days after I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing. With attention and interest focused on his well-publicized CBS deal, I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing passed by largely unnoticed. It was the least successful album of his 20th Century career, only reaching #40 on the R&B chart, which six of his eight previous albums had topped. None of the single releases made any impact either.\n\nTrack listing \n \"I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing\" (Barry White, Paul Politi, Frank Wilson) - 2:50\n \"Girl, What's Your Name\" (White, Danny Pearson, Wilson) - 4:08\n \"Once Upon a Time (You Were a Friend of Mine)\" (Rahn Coleman) - 6:01\n \"Oh Me, Oh My (I'm Such a Lucky Guy)\" (White, Wilson, Politi, Raymond Cooksey) - 5:04\n \"I Can't Leave You Alone\" (White, Tony Sepe, Wilson) - 3:25\n \"Call Me Baby\" (Coleman) - 8:04\n \"How Did You Know It Was Me?\" (Coleman) - 6:47\n\nPersonnel\nBarry White - lead vocals, arranger\nJohn Roberts, Ronald Coleman - orchestration \nTechnical\nFrank Kejmar, Paul Elmore - engineer\nGlen Christensen - art direction, design\n\nSingles \n \"I Love to Sing the Songs I Sing\" (US R&B #53)\n \"How Did You Know It Was Me?\" (US R&B #64)\n\nReferences\n\nBarry White albums\n1979 albums\n20th Century Fox Records albums",
"Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin is a 1958 studio album by Sarah Vaughan, of the music of George Gershwin.\n\nVaughan would release another all-Gershwin album, Gershwin Live!, in 1982.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Isn't It a Pity?\" – 3:53\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 3:10\n \"I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise\" (Buddy De Sylva, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:39\n \"Someone to Watch over Me\" – 3:58\n \"Bidin' My Time\" – 3:01\n \"The Man I Love\" – 3:34\n \"How Long Has This Been Going On?\" – 3:58\n \"My One and Only (What Am I Gonna Do?)\" – 3:13\n \"Lorelei\" – 2:32\n \"I've Got a Crush on You\" – 4:00\n \"Summertime\" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) – 2:51\n \"Aren't You Kinda Glad We Did?\" – 3:27\n \"They All Laughed\" – 2:23\n \"Looking For a Boy\" – 3:38\n \"He Loves and She Loves\" – 3:24\n \"My Man's Gone Now\" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin, Heyward) – 4:22\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" (DeSylva, G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 3:24\n \"A Foggy Day\" – 3:24\n \"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off\" – 2:22\n \"Things Are Looking Up\" – 3:33\n \"Do It Again\" (DeSylva, I. Gershwin) – 3:13\n \"Love Walked In\" – 3:06\n 1999 Cd reissue bonus tracks not included on the original 1958 release:\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 3:23\n \"Summertime\" \t\n \"Things Are Looking Up\" – 3:21\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" (Buddy DeSylva, G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 0:18\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" – 3:21\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" – 1:21\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" – 2:50\n \"I Won't Say I Will\" – 7:49\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 1:35\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 2:25\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 2:16\n \"Of Thee I Sing\" – 4:02\n \"My One and Only (What Am I Gonna Do?)\" – 1:47\n \"My One and Only (What Am I Gonna Do?)\" – 3:11\n \"My One and Only (What Am I Gonna Do?)\" – 4:34\n\nAll songs composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, unless otherwise indicated.\n\nPersonnel \n Sarah Vaughan – vocals\n Hal Mooney – arranger\n\nReferences\n\n1958 albums\nSarah Vaughan albums\nAlbums arranged by Hal Mooney\nEmArcy Records albums\nAlbums produced by Bob Shad"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"what is part of her legacy?",
" Stefani has been referred to as a \"Pop Princess\" by several contemporary music critics.",
"why is she called that?",
"In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of \"100 Greatest Women in Music",
"does she have anyone that influenced her career>",
"Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive.",
"Is there anyone she influences?",
"the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would \"pass out\" if she were to ever meet Stefani.",
"what songs did she sing?",
"The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., \"What You Waiting For"
] |
C_5c81964b050442e7a38ddbe3a1cfcfa0_0
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did she win any awards?
| 6 |
did Gwen Stefani win any awards?
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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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the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award,
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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
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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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"Camille Paglia",
"Education"
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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Where did Camille go to school?
| 1 |
Where did Camille Paglia go to school?
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Camille Paglia
|
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Harpur College at Binghamton University
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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"Camille Montes Rivero is a fictional character in the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace portrayed by actress Olga Kurylenko.\n\nIn film\nCamille is a Bolivian national. She first meets Bond (Daniel Craig) in Haiti, where she intends to kill General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), who murdered her entire family when she was a child. She sleeps with Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the terrorist group Quantum, to get to Medrano, but Greene soon grows suspicious of her and plans to kill her.\n\nCamille arranges a meeting with a geologist selling classified information that is detrimental to Greene's front company, Greene Planet. However, Greene has already hired assassin Edmund Slate (Neil Jackson) to pose as the geologist (whom Camille has not met in person) and kill Camille. Bond intercepts and kills Slate and takes his suitcase without knowing the contents. Camille spots Bond on the street with the suitcase and believes he is the geologist. Bond opens the suitcase and unwittingly reveals Slate's gun and documents that show Camille as a target. Believing Bond has come to kill her, Camille attempts to shoot him before fleeing. She returns to Greene, intent on being introduced to Medrano so she can kill him. When Greene betrays Camille, Bond rescues her, and they team up to go after Greene and Medrano.\n\nBond leaves Camille for a short period of time after she is knocked unconscious during a boat chase in Haiti to follow Greene to Austria, tracking him to a performance of Tosca. Camille soon appears at Greene's formal fundraising party to ruin it. Greene attempts to push her from a balcony but, once again, Bond saves her life.\n\nBond intervenes and takes her away from Greene, using MI6 Agent Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) as a distraction, to prevent Greene's associate from following Bond and Camille as they leave the party; this costs Fields her life. Camille watches Bond as he kills Bolivian police officers in cold blood as revenge for murdering his friend and ally Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini).\n\nCamille and Bond trace Greene and Medrano to a desert eco-hotel. While Bond goes to fight Greene and his men, Camille faces Medrano, who attempts to rape and kill her. Camille gets the upper hand, however, and kills the dictator with a single shot to the head. As the hotel collapses around them, Bond shields Camille from the fire, and helps her escape. Bond leaves Greene in the middle of the desert and drives Camille to a train station so she can go back to her home. The two share a quick kiss, and Camille wishes Bond luck in conquering his personal demons.\n\nBehind the scenes\nBarbara Broccoli said that she intended for Camille to return for Skyfall or a future film. The character did not appear in Skyfall, however, nor the subsequent Bond films, Spectre and No Time to Die.\n\nAnalysis\nLaureen Gibson argued that Montes is \"arguably a female version of Bond rather than a Bond girl\". Gibson goes on to point out that her mission was accomplished first, whereas in previous Bond films, \"women's individual missions were secondary to or subsumed by Bond's.\" Montes is also a rarity in that she does not have sex with Bond.\n\nChicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who was critical of Quantum of Solace as a whole, compared Montes unfavorably to the more colorful Bond girls of previous films in the series, such as Goldfingers Pussy Galore, GoldenEyes Xenia Onatopp, and Diamonds Are Forevers Plenty O'Toole.\n\nReferences\n\nBond girls\nOrphan characters in film\nQuantum of Solace\nFilm characters introduced in 2008\nFictional Bolivian people\nFictional female secret agents and spies\nFictional sole survivors",
"Love Song is a 2000 film produced for television by MTV and directed by Julie Dash. The film stars Monica, Christian Kane, Rachel True and Essence Atkins. It was released on December 1, 2000.\n\nPlot\nCamille Livingston is the reserved, sheltered only child and daughter of prosperous African American parents in New Orleans. She attends school, works with under privileged inner city children and lives with her two roommates. Camille has been dating Calvin, who looks up to Camille's father and appears to be following him into medicine. It is also understood that Camille will follow Calvin and work in some type of medical field. Her life is considered by her and people around her to be \"normal\" and what is expected.\n\nThen on her 21st birthday she is attended to at a gas station by Billy Ryan Gallo, a mechanic during the day who turns out to be a blues musician at night. When Camille shows up at Thelma's Bar later that evening, Billy formally introduces himself and then serenades her from the stage, much to her surprise and the amusement of her roommates.\n\nCamille runs into Billy again when she is out with Calvin and Billy is playing at the restaurant/casino. Impressed with Billy's style, Calvin asks if he can buy Billy a drink and Billy joins them at their table and does not let on that he already has met Camille. After a short conversation, Billy invites both to Thelma's Bar the following evening but Calvin declines saying he will be out of town.\n\nThe next day, Camille goes alone to Thelma's and watches again as Billy takes the stage and appears to be singing only to her. When his set is complete, Billy asks if Camille will go out and about New Orleans, a town where Camille has lived for over ten years but has never experienced. The night sees Camille and Billy visiting clubs, riding around, laughing and dancing and being very free and comfortable with each other. They then go to a club where she is handed a mic and impromptuly sings with a powerful voice that has Billy awed.\n\nAs the chemistry between the two heats up, Camille retreats back to her safe world and Billy, respecting her decision, says if they cannot be more than friends, then would she consider singing in his new band. Camille agrees and two begin a musical friendship. They decide to try their act out at Camille's college's open mic night, Billy playing guitar and Camille singing. All during the song neither Billy nor the audience take their eyes off of Camille and when the song is complete receive a standing ovation. Afterwards, energised by their performance, Camille stares at Billy differently and unexpectedly kisses him. Billy then kisses her back and asks her if she knows who she wants to be with. Camille confidently tells Billy she wants to be with him and the two kiss again.\n\nWith this new change, Camille realises that she wants to continue to work with the inner city children and not head off to some college and a career in medicine. Newly inspired, Camille goes to tell her parents and is surprised to find Calvin and his parents at their house and Calvin asking her to marry him. Overwhelmed by the pressure and her parents happiness, Camille agrees to marry Calvin and options out of her desired career choice. She then meets with Billy and displays the engagement ring. Furious with Camille for not standing up for what she wants and trying to make everyone happy but herself, Billy ends their friendship.\n\nTwo weeks later at the engagement party, Camille's roommates observe Camille and find that their friend isn't herself and the whole event just \"doesn't feel right.\" They take Camille aside and tell her that at any point she wants to leave, they will help drive her away.\n\nThe party is an upscale social event attended by what Calvin calls \"very important people.\" Camille decides to serenade Calvin with a love song and everyone in the audience is amazed by her talent except for Calvin and her father, who appear to be engrossed in their own conversation. And while she sings, Camille's thoughts turn to Billy as she watches Calvin ignore her performance. When the song ends she announces to everyone that she is not in love with Calvin but in love with a man who \"really sees her.\" She calls off the engagement and drives away with her roommates.\n\nCamille goes back to her place, changes and drives to find Billy at the gas station. He is standoffish towards her and asks her to leave but she stays to show him her bare ring finger. Billy softens and understands the enormity of what Camille did and he again asks her if this is for real. She smiles and says yes and the two kiss and hug and finally appear as a couple.\n\nThe movie ends with Camille and Billy Ryan at Thelma's Bar, this time on stage together for the first time, in front of their friends and both of their mothers, singing a Love Song.\n\nCast\n Camille Livingston: Monica\n Billy Ryan Gallo: Christian Kane\n Toni: Essence Atkins\n Evie Livingston: Vanessa Bell Calloway\n Malik/Joey Anderson: Teck Holmes\n Renee: Rachel True\n Mad Rage/Skip: Tyrese\n House Director: Chilli\n Alfred Livingston: Peter Francis James\n Calvin Dumas: Rainbow Sun Francks\n\nProduction\nThe movie was filmed in Montréal, Québec, Canada.\n\nReception\nIn 2001, Love Song was nominated for one Black Reel Awards in the category of \"Network/Cable - Best Director\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Love Song at Internet Movie Database\nLove Song at All Movie\n\n2000 films\n2000s English-language films\nFilms about interracial romance\n2000 romantic drama films\nFilms directed by Julie Dash\nAmerican romantic drama films"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University"
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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What did she study?
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What did Camille Paglia study at Harpur College at Binghamton University?
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Camille Paglia
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Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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"Payal Kapadia is an Indian filmmaker. She is best known for having won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her film A Night of Knowing Nothing. In 2017, her film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film that was selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival.\n\nBiography \nBorn in Mumbai, Kapadia went to Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh. She got a Bachelor's degree in economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She did a one-year Master's degree from Sophia college. She then went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, where she was selected on her second attempt.\n\nFilmography \nWatermelon, Fish and Half Ghost\nThe Last Mango Before the Monsoon (2015)\nAfternoon Clouds (2017)\nAnd What is the Summer Saying (2018)\nA Night of Knowing Nothing (2021)\n\nReferences \n\nIndian women film directors\nIndian women documentary filmmakers\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"Mary Carroll Ellsberg (born 1958) is an American epidemiologist whose research focuses on global health and violence against women. She is the director of the Global Women's Institute at George Washington University in Washington D.C.. Ellsberg is the daughter of Carol Cummings and the American military analyst and whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, and sister to Robert Ellsberg, the editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books, and author Michael Ellsberg.\n\nEducation\nEllsberg received her bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Yale University. In 2000, she obtained her Ph.D. in epidemiology and public health from Umeå University in Sweden, where she wrote a thesis on domestic violence against women in Nicaragua.\n\nNicaragua\nIn 1979 Ellsberg moved to Nicaragua to work for peace and social justice, and she lived there for almost 20 years. During this time she participated in the Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign and worked with vaccination and health consultation programs on the Caribbean coast for the Nicaragua Department of Health. Subsequently, in 1995 she did a prevalence study on domestic violence in Nicaragua, finding that 50% of women had been beaten or raped by her partner. This study was used to pass the country's first domestic violence law in 1996. In 2000, she defended her Ph.D. thesis at Umeå University on domestic violence in Nicaragua. After moving back to the United States, she has continued to conduct domestic violence research in Nicaragua.\n\nUnited States\nAfter returning to the United States, Ellsberg served as the vice president for research and programs at the International Center for Research on Women in Washington D.C.. In 2012 she joined the faculty of George Washington University where she is the director of the Global Womens Institute.\n\nScientific research\nEllsberg has studied domestic violence against women around the world, including Nicaragua, Melanesia, and South Sudan. She was a member of the core research team of the World Health Organization's Multi-Country Study on Domestic Violence and Women's Health, which has compared ten different countries in terms of prevalence, risk factors and consequences of intimate partner violence.\n\nSelected publications \n Ellsberg M, Caldera T, Herrera A, Winkvist A, Kullgren G. Domestic violence and emotional distress among Nicaraguan women: Results from a population-based study. American Psychologist. 1999 Jan;54(1):30.\n Ellsberg MC, Pena R, Herrera A, Liljestrand J, Winkvist A. Wife abuse among women of childbearing age in Nicaragua. American journal of public health. 1999 Feb;89(2):241-4.\n Ellsberg M, Peña R, Herrera A, Liljestrand J, Winkvist A. Candies in hell: women's experiences of violence in Nicaragua. Social science & medicine. 2000 Dec 1;51(11):1595-610.\n Ellsberg M, Heise L, Pena R, Agurto S, Winkvist A. Researching domestic violence against women: methodological and ethical considerations. Studies in family planning. 2001 Mar;32(1):1-6.\n Garcia-Moreno C, Jansen HA, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts CH. Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. The Lancet. 2006 Oct 7;368(9543):1260-9.\n Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C. Intimate partner violence and women's physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence: an observational study. The Lancet. 2008 Apr 5;371(9619):1165-72.\n Abramsky T, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C, Devries K, Kiss L, Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L. What factors are associated with recent intimate partner violence? Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. BMC public health. 2011 Dec;11(1):109.\n Ellsberg M, Arango DJ, Morton M, Gennari F, Kiplesund S, Contreras M, Watts C. Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?. The Lancet. 2015 Apr 18;385(9977):1555-66.\n Ellsberg M, Contreras M, No safe place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan, Global Women's Institute, 2017\n Ellsberg M, Ugarte W, Ovince J, et al. Long-term change in the prevalence of intimate partner violence: a 20-year follow-up study in León, Nicaragua, 1995-2016. BMJ Global Health 2020;5:e002339. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002339\n\nExternal links \n Google Scholar, Mary Ellsberg\n TEDxFoggyBottom, Mary Ellsberg, Ending violence against women with numbers and stories\n George Washington University Global Women's Institute\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\nAmerican people of Jewish descent\nDomestic violence academics\nGeorge Washington University faculty\nYale University alumni\nUmeå University alumni\n1958 births"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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When did she graduate?
| 3 |
When did Camille Paglia graduate from Harpur College at Binghamton University?
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Camille Paglia
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Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"Ana Rita Contreras Sosa (born July 31, 1984), also known as Dominicana Prestigiosa, is a Dominican beauty pageant titleholder.\n\nShe was born in and grew up in Bayaguana, Monte Plata, Dominican Republic. In Miss Dominican Republic 2006 she represented the province of Barahona, placing 13th in the preliminaries. Although she failed to make the top ten, she won the special Miss Communication award. She represented Monte Plata in Miss Dominican Republic 2009, placing as 1st runner-up. When Miss Mundo Dominicana 2009 was cancelled due to lack of funds and sponsors, she was selected to be the representative of the Dominican Republic at Miss World 2009, where she did not place.\n\nContreras is a summa cum laude graduate with honors in Architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana de Santo Domingo, and a graduate of the modeling academy \"The Femme Elegant\". She studied for her master's degree at Columbia University of New York City.\n\nSee also\nMiss Dominican Republic 2009\nMiss Mundo Dominicana 2009\nMiss Dominican Republic 2006\n\nReferences \n\n1984 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Monte Plata Province\nDominican Republic beauty pageant winners\nMiss Dominican Republic\nMiss World 2009 delegates\nColumbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni",
"Tezer Özlü (September 10, 1943, Kütahya – February 18, 1986, Zurich), Turkish writer.\n\nBiography\nBorn in Kütahya, she spent her childhood in Simav, Ödemiş, and Gerede where her parents were on duty. She came to İstanbul when she was 10 years old. She went to St. George's Austrian High School but she did not graduate from that high school. She went outside Turkey in 1961 and went on to hitchhike around Europe.\n\nBibliography\nEski Bahçe (1978)\nÇocukluğun Soğuk Geceleri (1980)\nAuf den Spuren eines Selbstmords (1983)\nYaşamın Ucuna Yolculuk (1984)\nEski Bahçe - Eski Sevgi (1987)\nKalanlar (1995)\nZaman Dışı Yaşam (2000).\n\nReferences\n\n1943 births\n1986 deaths\nTurkish women writers\nPeople from Kütahya\n20th-century Turkish women writers\n20th-century Turkish writers\nTurkish autobiographers\nWomen autobiographers"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968."
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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What did she do after she graduated?
| 4 |
What did Camille Paglia do after she graduated from Harpur College at Binghamton University?
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Camille Paglia
|
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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[
"Dead Funny is a 1994 independent drama film directed by John Feldman. It stars Elizabeth Peña as Vivian Saunders, a woman who comes home from work and finds her boyfriend Reggie Barker (Andrew McCarthy) pinned to her kitchen table with a long knife.\n\nPlot\nVivian Saunders (Elizabeth Peña) comes home one day to an unusual surprise: her boyfriend Reggie Barker (Andrew McCarthy) is lying on the kitchen table with a large sword sticking out of his body. At first Vivian thinks this must be some sort of joke, but she discovers that Reggie is indeed dead, and as she calls her best friend Louise (Paige Turco) to figure out what might have happened and what to do, it occurs to her that she blacked out after too much wine the night before and isn't sure what she did before she passed out. After a few phone calls, Vivian's women's support group arrives, and what to do about Reggie soon takes second place to what Vivian should do for herself.\n\nCast\nElizabeth Peña as Vivian Saunders\nAndrew McCarthy as Reggie Barker\nPaige Turco as Louise\nBlanche Baker as Barbara\nAllison Janney as Jennifer\nAdelle Lutz as Mari\nNovella Nelson as Frances\nLisa Jane Persky as Sarah\nMichael Mantell as Harold\nKen Kensei as Yoshi\nBai Ling as Norriko\n\nRelease\nThis film has only been released on VHS and LaserDisc format.\n\nReception\nDavid Nusair of DVD Talk negatively reviewed the film, saying \"By the time we find out what really happened to McCarthy's character, it's impossible to care.\" Time Out also negatively reviewed the film, writing \"How did it happen? Who did it? Who cares? Probably not Feldman who seems more interested in shooting his actresses' naked thighs.\" The New York Times stated that Dead Funny \"tries so hard to be ingeniously tricky and ambiguous that it ends up outsmarting itself\".\n\nVariety positively reviewed the film, praising Peña's performance.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n\n1994 films\nAmerican drama films\nAmerican independent films\nAmerican films\n1994 drama films\nEnglish-language films",
"Kan En Vong (born 1899), also known as Grace Kan or Grace Sweet, was a Chinese kindergarten educator.\n\nEarly life \nKan was a little girl in Hangzhou when she joined the household of American Baptist missionaries Rev. and Mrs. William S. Sweet; it was said that she was sold by her biological father, an opium addict. Later the Rev. A. E. Harris of Philadelphia was described as her foster father. \n\nKan En Vong graduated from high school and trained as a kindergarten teacher under American missionary teacher Helen Rawlings in Hangzhou. Kan later attended Oberlin College in the United States, to study music and education. She graduated from Oberlin in 1922.\n\nCareer \nKan was superintendent of the Union High School kindergarten in Hangzhou. In 1923, Vong taught at a Baptist missionary kindergarten in Shantou. \n\nIn 1921 Kan spoke about China at the Women's American Foreign Baptist Missionary Society gatherings in 1921 in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York, and lectured in other American and Canadian cities. \"Our children sing songs and play games, just as children of your country do. But I don't think American children can possibly enjoy their work as Chinese youngsters do,\" she told audiences. \"The idea is so new in China that as first the mothers did not know what to make of it. The children come two hours early they are so eager to get to the kindergarten.\"\n\nPersonal life \nShe was engaged to a Chinese student at Columbia University in 1921. She later married Lawrence Liu.\n\nReferences \n\nEducators from Hangzhou\nChinese Baptists\nOberlin College alumni\n1899 births\nYear of death missing\nChinese schoolteachers\nHeads of schools in China"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.",
"What did she do after she graduated?",
"Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School"
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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What did she do after graduate school?
| 5 |
What did Camille Paglia do after graduate school at Yale?
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Camille Paglia
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Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College.
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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[
"Catharine R. Stimpson (born June 4, 1936 in Bellingham, Washington) is a feminist scholar, University Professor, professor of English, and dean emerita of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University.\n\nAcademic career\nStimpson did her undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr College and earned graduate degrees from Cambridge University and Columbia University. She was the founding editor in 1975 of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.\n\nStimpson began her academic career at Barnard College, where she was founding director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women in 1971. In 1980, she became Professor of English at Rutgers University, where she also led the Institute for Research on Women, was Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education, and University Professor. After a leave from Rutgers to serve as Director of the MacArthur Fellows Program, she became University Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University in 1998. In 2010, she became Dean Emerita at NYU, where she has appointments in the Department of English, the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, and the Law School.\n\nIn 1990, she was president of the Modern Language Association and in 1999-2000 she was president of the Association of Graduate Schools of the Association of American Universities.\n\nMacArthur Fellows\nAs director of the MacArthur Fellows Program from 1993 to 1997, Stimpson helped the program move from recognizing already established scholars to the more contemporary form of today.\n\nBibliography\nIn addition to being the founding editor of Signs, Stimpson has written two books, edited seven books, and published over 150 monographs, essays, stories, and reviews.\n\nReferences\n\n1936 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Bellingham, Washington\nFeminist studies scholars\nBryn Mawr College alumni\nColumbia University alumni\nBarnard College faculty\nAlumni of the University of Cambridge\nRutgers University faculty\nNew York University faculty",
"Alice Rufie Jordan Blake (10 October 1864 - 29 November 1893) was the first female graduate of Yale University. After application and rejection from several other schools, she was able to enter Yale's law program after discovering that school regulations did not explicitly forbid female applicants.\n\nEarly life \nAlice Rufie Jordan was born in Norwalk, Ohio. After graduation from high school at the age of sixteen, she became the University of Michigan's youngest entrant to the literature program. At the age of 20, she entered the University of Michigan Law School, and before graduation passed the court test (an early type of bar exam) that enabled her to practice law in the state of Michigan.\n\nTime at Yale \nWanting to continue her studies, Jordan applied to Columbia Law School and Harvard Law School in 1885. After rejection from both male-only schools, she applied to Yale using her first initials. When she arrived to register, she faced opposition from the Corporation, but because the regulations did not explicitly prohibit female applicants, she was permitted to proceed with her studies. A year later, Blake graduated with a bachelor's of law in 1886 with the support of the faculty. While Blake was the first female graduate at Yale, she would remain as the only female law graduate until 1920. At the meeting with the Corporation where they approved the list of new law graduates, they noted that \"it is to be understood that the courses of instruction [throughout Yale] are open to persons of the male sex only, except where both sexes are specifically included.”\n\nMarriage and Death \nJordan married fellow lawyer George D. Blake in 1888, and moved to Seattle, Washington. She had been interviewed stating her desire to practice law even after her marriage. Jordan Blake died at the age of 29 in Chicago, Illinois in 1893.\n\nReferences \n\nYale University 1880s alumni\n1864 births\n1893 deaths\nMichigan lawyers\nUniversity of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni\nPeople from Norwalk, Ohio\nUniversity of Michigan Law School alumni\n19th-century American lawyers\n19th-century American women lawyers\n19th-century women lawyers"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.",
"What did she do after she graduated?",
"Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School",
"What did she do after graduate school?",
"Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College."
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
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Did she write anything while at school?
| 6 |
Did Camille Paglia write anything while at school at Harpur College or at Yale Graduate School?
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Camille Paglia
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Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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"Flora Garry (30 September 1900 – 16 June 2000) was a Scottish poet who mostly wrote in the Scots dialect of Aberdeenshire.\nWell known for her poetry, she played an important role along with Charles Murray and John C. Milne in validating the literary use of Scots.\n\nBiography\n\nFlora Garry was the daughter of Archie Campbell, a freelance writer who used the nom de plume of \"The Buchan Farmer\", and Helen Campbell, who wrote plays for radio.\nShe was brought up at Mains of Auchmunziel, near to New Deer, Buchan in Abderdeenshire.\nShe went to school in New Deer, then went on to the Peterhead Academy and the University of Aberdeen.\nShe became a school teacher, and taught at Dumfries and Strichen.\nShe married Robert Campbell Garry, who was the first to use insulin in Scotland while a house doctor at Western Infirmary, Glasgow and who became Regius Professor of Physiology at the University of Glasgow. They had one son, Frank.\n\nFlora Garry did not start to write poetry until World War II, and did not publish anything until she was an old age pensioner.\nExplaining why she began writing poetry so late, she said that just as happiness has no history, neither does it write poetry.\nShe corresponded with Edith Anne Robertson (1883–1973), another Aberdeenshire poet who wrote in the Scots tongue.\nHer verse collection Bennygoak was first published in 1974.\nShe spent her last years in Comrie, Perthshire, dying there on 16 June 2000 after outliving her husband and her son.\n\nWork\n\nFlora Garry loved the gently rolling farming country of Buchan, which she celebrated in her poetry.\nAlthough she wrote fine English, her full talent emerged in her work in the local Buchan dialect.\nMost of the writers in Scots in the first half of the twentieth century were well educated and of middle-class background. They respected the Scots language but it was not their native tongue. Flora Garry was unusual in that as a child she probably spoke the language she later used in her poetry.\nA reviewer has said that her Doric poetry is written \"with a sure touch and a sharp eye.\"\nAnother has said she was \"one of the most uncompromising of recent dialect poets; but the great affection in which she and her work are locally held is clear evidence not only for the vitality of her Doric as a poetic medium but for the strength of the folk-memory of traditional NE farming life.\"\n\nBibliography\n\nReviews\n Garioch, Robert (1980), review of Bennygoak and Other Poems, in Burnett, Ray (ed.), Calgacus 2, Summer 1975, p. 54,\n\nReferences\nCitations\n\nSources\n\n1900 births\n2000 deaths\nDoric poets\n20th-century Scottish poets\nPeople educated at Peterhead Academy\nAlumni of the University of Aberdeen\nScottish schoolteachers",
"\"You're Lookin' at Country\" is a country music song written and made famous by Loretta Lynn in 1971. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and reached #1 on the Canada Country Tracks chart on RPM.\n\nAbout the song\nLynn wrote \"You're Lookin' At Country\" in response to viewing the open country while touring on the road. Lynn said in an interview that she was inspired by all the meadows and hills that she saw while passing through the country to write this song. The song was unlike anything Lynn had been releasing at the time, besides \"Coal Miner's Daughter\" from the previous year. This was because the song did not speak of the common subjects Lynn often used in her songs, such as drunk husbands, adultery, and fighting back.\n\n\"I had to write 'You're Lookin' At Country' as a love song or it wouldn't sell\", Lynn told Jimmy Guterman in the liner notes for the 1994 box set Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection. \"But it wasn't a love song. I got the idea from looking at my land. I wanted to write what I saw\".\n\n\"You're Lookin' At Country\" is about Lynn describing how \"Country\" she is by saying she loves running through corn fields and singing a country hymn. She later goes on to say, if you're lookin' at me, you're lookin' at country, which is the ultimate summary of the song. The song grew quite a response from listeners, and has been said to be one of Lynn's signature songs.\n\nIn the 1980 motion picture biography of Lynn, Coal Miner's Daughter, Sissy Spacek (who plays Loretta) sings \"You're Lookin' At Country\" during a concert twice in the film. Spacek sang Lynn's hits herself, and later won her an Academy Award for doing so.\n\nCarrie Underwood covered the song as part of the Loretta Lynn tribute album, Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn. The album was released on November 9, 2010.\n\nLynn performed the song at the 2014 Country Music Association Awards along with fellow country singer Kacey Musgraves.\n\nChart performance\nDecca Records released Lynn's song in May 1971. \"You're Lookin' At Country\" peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart in mid-1971, and an album of the same name was released. The album and the single sold fairly well. Only one single was released from the album, which was common for the time.\n\nReferences\n\n1971 singles\nLoretta Lynn songs\nCarrie Underwood songs\nSongs written by Loretta Lynn\nSong recordings produced by Owen Bradley\nDecca Records singles\n1971 songs"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.",
"What did she do after she graduated?",
"Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School",
"What did she do after graduate school?",
"Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College.",
"Did she write anything while at school?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
|
What happened when she was working at Bennington College?
| 7 |
What happened when Camille Paglia was working at Bennington College?
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Camille Paglia
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Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington,
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
| true |
[
"Elizabeth Coleman (born 1937) was the ninth president of Bennington College from 1987 to 2013. Coleman also served as the founding Dean of College of Arts and Sciences at The New School for Social Research.\n\nEducation \nColeman graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, where she was a Ford Foundation Scholar, and completed her master's degree in English and American Literature at Cornell University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. She received her Ph.D. with distinction at Columbia University, where she was a Woodbridge and President's Fellow.\n\nCareer \nColeman began her career as a professor at Stony Brook University. She then founded the College of Arts and Sciences at The New School for Social Research, where she served as dean. She was appointed president of Bennington College in 1987, and served until her retirement in 2013. She was succeeded by Mariko Silver, a former administrator at Arizona State University and United States Department of Homeland Security official.\n\nPersonal life \nColeman is the mother of David Coleman, a businessman and current president of the College Board.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n TED talk (video)\n\nColumbia University alumni\nCornell University alumni\nUniversity of Chicago alumni\nLiving people\n1931 births\nPlace of birth missing (living people)\nPresidents of Bennington College",
"Aileen Passloff (October 21, 1931November 3, 2020) was an American dancer and teacher who lived and worked in New York City. From 1949 to 1953, she studied at Bennington College. She attended the School of American Ballet, where she met James Waring, and participated in his workshops and dance company. From 1958 to 1968, Passloff ran the Aileen Passloff Dance Company in New York City. She was a member of the experimental dance collective Judson Dance Theater and part of their retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. She was a professor of dance at Bard College for 40 years. Passloff stars in Marta Renzi's film Her Magnum Opus in 2018.\n\nPassloff died at age 89 on November 3, 2020, of heart failure as a complication from lung cancer diagnosed in 2015.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n Her Magnum Opus a film by Marta Renzi\n Aileen Passloff Bennington College, Class of 1953\n\n1931 births\n2020 deaths\nBennington College alumni\nBard College faculty\nDancers from New York (state)\nPeople from Queens, New York\nAmerican female dancers\nAmerican women academics\n21st-century American women"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.",
"What did she do after she graduated?",
"Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School",
"What did she do after graduate school?",
"Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College.",
"Did she write anything while at school?",
"I don't know.",
"What happened when she was working at Bennington College?",
"Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington,"
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
|
Did she get Sontag to speak at Bennington?
| 8 |
Did Camille Paglia get Sontag to speak at Bennington College?
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Camille Paglia
|
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee)
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
LGBT writers from the United States
Transgender and transsexual writers
New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Endicott, New York
Writers from Syracuse, New York
People of Lazian descent
People of Campanian descent
Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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[
"Sontag Hotel () was the first European hotel in Seoul, Korea, built in 1902. The hotel was sold in 1917 and eventually demolished in 1922.\n\nThe 25-room hotel was bestowed to a German Russian, Antoinette Sontag, by Emperor Gojong. She was the sister-in-law of the Russian ambassador, Karl Waeber. It is said that she could speak German, Russian, English and also some Korean, gaining wider acknowledgement from the royal family. However, she was almost expelled from Korea when Japan's influence in Korea grew.\n\nLocation\nBestowed land was next to Deoksugung palace. Later, the emperor granted the hotel to Sontag, for whom the hotel was named after. It was also called the Guest Hall in Hansung and Sontag's Residence. Currently, it is presumed to be by the cennetial memorial hall of Ewha Womans University. \n\nThe first Dabang, or coffee shop, was opened in the hotel where most westerners resided in Seoul visited at the time. Several famous people, including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American writer Jack London, also stayed at Sontag Hotel while on a visit to Korea. The first Prime Minister of Japan, Itō Hirobumi, invited the authorities of the Empire of Korea here.\n\nMiscellaneous\n In 1976, the notable writer, Cha Bum-seok completed his screenplay named \"Sontag Hotel\". Later in 2005, this script became transformed as a musical.\n In 2012, Lee Soon-woo published the book named Sontag Hotel (), featuring the modern diplomatic history surrounding Korean peninsula and life of Sontag.\n\nReferences \n\nKorean Empire\nDemolished hotels\nDemolished buildings and structures in South Korea\nBuildings and structures demolished in 1922",
"Henriette Sontag, born Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, and, after her marriage, entitled Henriette, Countess Rossi (3 January 1806 – 17 June 1854), was a German operatic soprano of great international renown. She possessed a sweet-toned, lyrical voice and was a brilliant exponent of florid singing.\n\nLife\nSontag was born at Koblenz, Germany, as Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, to the actor Franz Sontag and his wife, the actress Franziska Sontag ( Martloff; 1788–1865). Her brother was the actor Karl Sontag. She made her début at the age of 6. In 1823 she sang at Leipzig in Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz and in December of that year created the title role in his Euryanthe. Her success was immediate. She was invited to be the soprano soloist in the first performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis on 7 May 1824; she was only 18 years old at the time. In 1825 she was engaged by the Königstädter Theater, Berlin. \n\nIn 1826, she was engaged at the Paris Comédie-Italienne, where she debuted in the role of Rosina in Gioachino Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville. She was also extremely successful in performance in England and Germany in the following years. When she visited Weimar, Goethe wrote a poem dedicated to her (Neue Siren). Around 1829 she married Count Carlo Rossi in secret, after which she left the stage until her husband's financial situation deteriorated.\n\nIn 1849, she was encouraged by the impresario Benjamin Lumley to perform a season at Covent Garden Theatre. She proved to have fully retained her vocal powers. In 1852, she toured America, and in May 1854, at a literary evening in honor of Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna, she made public for the first time the lyrics that Francisco González Bocanegra had written to celebrate the nation (with an Italian musical arrangement). A day after singing Lucia di Lammermoor, she contracted cholera, which would claim her life at age 48.\n\nSontag died in Mexico City, Mexico, and is buried in Germany at St. Marienthal Abbey. Her sister Nina Sontag (1811–1879), originally also an opera-singer, had retired there as a nun in 1844.\n\nHector Berlioz wrote of Sontag:\n\nReferences\nNotes\n\nSources\n Warrack, John (n.d.). \"Sontag [Sonntag], Henriette (Gertrud Walpurgis)\", Oxford Music Online, accessed 4 July 2017\n\nExternal links\n\n1806 births\n1854 deaths\nDeaths from cholera\nInfectious disease deaths in Mexico\nGerman operatic sopranos\nMusicians from Koblenz\nItalian countesses\n19th-century German women opera singers"
] |
[
"Camille Paglia",
"Education",
"Where did Camille go to school?",
"Harpur College at Binghamton University",
"What did she study?",
"I don't know.",
"When did she graduate?",
"She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.",
"What did she do after she graduated?",
"Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School",
"What did she do after graduate school?",
"Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College.",
"Did she write anything while at school?",
"I don't know.",
"What happened when she was working at Bennington College?",
"Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington,",
"Did she get Sontag to speak at Bennington?",
"Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee)"
] |
C_b4803a839a5249459d7e85dba2f3b4aa_0
|
Did Camille speak with Sontag?
| 9 |
Did Camille Paglia speak with Sontag at Dartmouth?
|
Camille Paglia
|
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who, "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968. According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks. Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema." Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel. As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Personal life
Paglia was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest child of Pasquale and Lydia Anne (née Colapietro) Paglia. All four of her grandparents were born in Italy. Her mother emigrated to the United States at five years old from Ceccano, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Paglia has stated that her father's side of the family was from the Campanian towns of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta. Paglia was raised Roman Catholic, and attended primary school in rural Oxford, New York, where her family lived in a working farmhouse. Her father, a veteran of World War II, taught at the Oxford Academy high school and exposed his young daughter to art through books he brought home about French art history. In 1957, her family moved to Syracuse, New York, so that her father could begin graduate school; he eventually became a professor of Romance languages at Le Moyne College. She attended the Edward Smith Elementary School, T. Aaron Levy Junior High, and William Nottingham High School. In 1992, Carmelia Metosh, her Latin teacher for three years, said, "She always has been controversial. Whatever statements were being made (in class), she had to challenge them. She made good points then, as she does now." Paglia thanked Metosh in the acknowledgements to Sexual Personae, later describing her as "the dragon lady of Latin studies, who breathed fire at principals and school boards".
During her stays at a summer Girl Scout camp in Thendara, New York, she took on a variety of new names, including Anastasia (her confirmation name, inspired by the film Anastasia), Stacy, and Stanley. A crucially significant event for her was when an outhouse exploded after she poured too much quicklime into the latrine. "That symbolized everything I would do with my life and work. Excess and extravagance and explosiveness. I would be someone who would look into the latrine of culture, into pornography and crime and psychopathology ... and I would drop the bomb into it".
For more than a decade, Paglia was the partner of artist Alison Maddex. Paglia legally adopted Maddex's son (who was born in 2002). In 2007, the couple separated but remained "harmonious co-parents," in the words of Paglia, who lived two miles apart. Paglia describes herself as transgender.
Education
Paglia entered Harpur College at Binghamton University in 1964. The same year, Paglia's poem "Atrophy" was published in the local newspaper. She later said that she was trained to read literature by poet Milton Kessler, who "believed in the responsiveness of the body, and of the activation of the senses to literature ... And oh did I believe in that". She graduated from Harpur as class valedictorian in 1968.
According to Paglia, while in college she punched a "marauding drunk," and takes pride in having been put on probation for committing 39 pranks.
Paglia attended Yale as a graduate student, and she claims to have been the only open lesbian at Yale Graduate School from 1968 to 1972. At Yale, Paglia quarreled with Rita Mae Brown, whom she later characterized as "then darkly nihilist," and argued with the New Haven, Connecticut, Women's Liberation Rock Band when they dismissed the Rolling Stones as sexist. Paglia was mentored by Harold Bloom. Sexual Personae was then titled "The Androgynous Dream: the image of the androgyne as it appears in literature and is embodied in the psyche of the artist, with reference to the visual arts and the cinema."
Paglia read Susan Sontag and aspired to emulate what she called her "celebrity, her positioning in the media world at the border of the high arts and popular culture." Paglia first saw Sontag in person on October 15, 1969 (Vietnam Moratorium Day), when Paglia, then a Yale graduate student, was visiting a friend at Princeton. In 1973, Paglia, a militant feminist and open lesbian, was working at her first academic job at Bennington College. She considered Sontag a radical who had challenged male dominance. The same year, Paglia drove to an appearance by Sontag at Dartmouth, hoping to arrange for her to speak at Bennington, but found it difficult to find the money for Sontag's speaking fee; Paglia relied on help from Richard Tristman, a friend of Sontag's, to persuade her to come. Bennington College agreed to pay Sontag $700 (twice what they usually offered speakers but only half Sontag's usual fee) to give a talk about contemporary issues. Paglia staged a poster campaign urging students to attend Sontag's appearance. Sontag arrived at Bennington Carriage Barn, where she was to speak, more than an hour late, and then began reading what Paglia recalled as a "boring and bleak" short story about "nothing" in the style of a French New Novel.
As a result of Sontag's Bennington College appearance, Paglia began to become disenchanted with her, believing that she had withdrawn from confrontation with the academic world, and that her "mandarin disdain" for popular culture showed an elitism that betrayed her early work, which had suggested that high and low culture both reflected a new sensibility.
Career
In the autumn of 1972, Paglia began teaching at Bennington College, which hired her in part thanks to a recommendation from Harold Bloom. At Bennington, she befriended the philosopher James Fessenden, who first taught there in the same semester.
Through her study of the classics and the scholarly work of Jane Ellen Harrison, James George Frazer, Erich Neumann and others, Paglia developed a theory of sexual history that contradicted a number of ideas fashionable at the time, hence her criticism of Marija Gimbutas, Carolyn Heilbrun, Kate Millett and others. She laid out her ideas on matriarchy, androgyny, homosexuality, sadomasochism and other topics in her Yale PhD thesis Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, which she defended in December 1974. In September 1976, she gave a public lecture drawing on that dissertation, in which she discussed Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, followed by remarks on Diana Ross, Gracie Allen, Yul Brynner, and Stéphane Audran.
Paglia wrote that she "nearly came to blows with the founding members of the women's studies program at the State University of New York at Albany, when they categorically denied that hormones influence human experience or behavior". Similar fights with feminists and academics culminated in a 1978 incident which led her to resign from Bennington; after a lengthy standoff with the administration, Paglia accepted a settlement from the college and resigned in 1979.
Paglia finished Sexual Personae in the early 1980s, but could not get it published. She supported herself with visiting and part-time teaching jobs at Yale, Wesleyan, and other Connecticut colleges. Her paper, "The Apollonian Androgyne and the Faerie Queene", was published in English Literary Renaissance, Winter 1979, and her dissertation was cited by J. Hillis Miller in his April 1980 article "Wuthering Heights and the Ellipses of Interpretation", in Journal of Religion in Literature, but her academic career was otherwise stalled. In a 1995 letter to Boyd Holmes, she recalled: "I earned a little extra money by doing some local features reporting for a New Haven alternative newspaper (The Advocate) in the early 1980s". She wrote articles on New Haven's historic pizzerias and on an old house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
In 1984, she joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, which merged in 1987 with the Philadelphia College of Art to become the University of the Arts.
Paglia is on the editorial board of the classics and humanities journal Arion. She wrote a regular column for Salon.com from 1995 to 2001, and again from 2007 to 2009. Paglia resumed writing a Salon.com column in 2016.
Paglia cooperated with Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock in their writing of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, sending them detailed letters from which they quoted with her permission. Rollyson and Paddock note that Sontag "had her lawyer put our publisher on notice" when she realized that they were investigating her life and career.
Paglia participates in the decennial poll of film professionals conducted by Sight & Sound which asks participants to submit a list of what they believe to be the ten greatest films of all time. According to her responses to the poll in 2002 and 2012, the films Paglia holds in highest regard include Ben-Hur, Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, Orphée, Persona, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Ten Commandments, and Vertigo.
In 2005, Paglia was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. In 2012, an article in The New York Times remarked that who has been following the body count of the culture wars over the past decades knows Paglia". Paglia has said that she is willing to have her entire career judged on the basis of her composition of what she considers to be "probably the most important sentence that she has ever written": "God is man's greatest idea."
Views
Feminism
Though Paglia admires Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex ("the supreme work of modern feminism ... its deep learning and massive argument are unsurpassed") as well as Germaine Greer, Time critic Martha Duffy writes that Paglia "does not hesitate to hurl brazen insults" at several feminists. In an interview, Paglia stated that to be effective, one has to "name names"; criticism should be concrete. Paglia stated that many critics "escape into abstractions", rendering their criticism "intellectualized and tame".
Paglia accused Greer of becoming "a drone in three years" as a result of her early success; Paglia has also criticized the work of activist Diana Fuss. Elaine Showalter calls Paglia "unique in the hyperbole and virulence of her hostility to virtually all the prominent feminist activists, public figures, writers and scholars of her generation", mentioning Carolyn Heilbrun, Judith Butler, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn French, Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Susan Thomases, and Hillary Clinton as targets of her criticism. Paglia has accused Kate Millett of starting "the repressive, Stalinist style in feminist criticism." Paglia has repeatedly criticized Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), calling her a "sanctimonious", unappealing role model for women whose "smug, arrogant" attitude is accompanied by "painfully limited processes of thought". Paglia contends that under Ireland's leadership, NOW "damaged and marginalized the women's movement".
In 1999, Martha Nussbaum wrote an essay called "The Professor of Parody", in which she criticized Judith Butler for retreating to abstract theory disconnected from real world problems. Paglia reacted to the essay by stating that the criticism was "long overdue", but characterized the criticism as "one PC diva turning against another". She criticized Nussbaum for failing to make her criticisms earlier while accusing her of borrowing Paglia's ideas without acknowledgement. She called Nussbaum's "preparation or instinct for sex analysis ... dubious at best", but nevertheless stated that "Nussbaum is a genuine scholar who operates on a vastly higher intellectual level than Butler".
Many feminists have criticized Paglia; Christina Hoff Sommers calls her "Perhaps the most conspicuous target of feminist opprobrium," noting that the Women's Review of Books described Sexual Personae as patriarchy's "counter-assault on feminism". Sommers relates that when Paglia appeared at a Brown University forum, feminists signed a petition censuring her and demanding an investigation into procedures for inviting speakers to the campus. Some feminist critics have characterized Paglia as an "anti-feminist feminist", critical of central features of much contemporary feminism but holding out "her own special variety of feminist affirmation".
Naomi Wolf traded a series of sometimes personal attacks with Paglia throughout the early 1990s. In The New Republic, Wolf wrote that Paglia "poses as a sexual renegade but is in fact the most dutiful of patriarchal daughters" and characterized Paglia as intellectually dishonest. In a 1991 speech, Paglia criticized Wolf for blaming anorexia on the media. Gloria Steinem said of Paglia that, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic." Paglia called Steinem "the Stalin of feminism". Katha Pollitt calls Paglia one of a "seemingly endless parade of social critics [who] have achieved celebrity by portraying not sexism but feminism as the problem". Pollitt writes that Paglia has glorified "male dominance", and has been able to get away with things "that might make even Rush Limbaugh blanch," because she is a woman.
Paglia's view that rape is sexually motivated has been endorsed by evolutionary psychologists Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer; they comment that "Paglia ... urges women to be skeptical toward the feminist 'party line' on the subject, to become better informed about risk factors, and to use the information to lower their risk of rape".
In an essay critiquing the Hollywood/celebrity fad of "Girl Squads", made popular in 2015 by pop-icons like Taylor Swift, Paglia argued that rather than empowering women the cliquish practice actually harms the self-esteem of those who are not rich, famous, or attractive enough to belong to the group, while further defining women only by a very narrow, often sexualized stereotype. She challenged that to be truly empowering, these groups need to mentor, advise, and be more inclusive, for more women to realize their true, individual potential.
Transgender people
Paglia identifies as transgender. She reports having gender dysphoria since childhood, and says that "never once in my life have I felt female". She says that she was "donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on".
Nevertheless, Paglia says that she is "highly skeptical about the current transgender wave" which she thinks has been produced by "far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender discourse allows". She writes that "In a democracy, everyone, no matter how nonconformist or eccentric, should be free from harassment and abuse. But at the same time, no one deserves special rights, protections, or privileges on the basis of their eccentricity."
Paglia's views led to a petition demanding University of the Arts to remove her from their faculty, but the university rejected it. Paglia considered it "a publicity stunt" and praised the university's "eloquent statement affirming academic freedom [as] a landmark in contemporary education."
Climate change
Paglia has long rejected global warming, which she describes as "the political agenda that has slowly accrued" around the issue of climate change. In a 2017 interview with The Weekly Standard, Paglia stated, "It is certainly ironic how liberals who posture as defenders of science when it comes to global warming (a sentimental myth unsupported by evidence) flee all reference to biology when it comes to gender."
French academia
Paglia is critical of the influence modern French writers have had on the humanities, claiming that universities are in the "thrall" of French post-structuralists; that in the works of Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, she never once found a sentence that interested her. François Cusset writes that Paglia, like other major American public intellectuals after World War II, owes her broader recognition mainly to the political repercussions of polemics that first erupted on college campuses, in her case to a polemic against foreign intellectualism. He says she achieved phenomenal success when she called Foucault a "bastard", thereby providing (together with Alan Sokal's Social Text parody) the best evidence for Paul de Man's view that theory should be defined negatively, based on the opposition it arouses. However, Paglia's assessment of French writers is not purely negative. She has called Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) "brilliant" and identified Jean-Paul Sartre's work as part of a high period in literature. Paglia has praised Roland Barthes's Mythologies (1957) and Gilles Deleuze's Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), while finding both men's later work flawed. Of Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Paglia, she wrote "[his] dignified yet fluid phenomenological descriptive method seemed to me ideal for art", adding that he was "the last modern French writer I took seriously".
Politics
Paglia characterizes herself as a libertarian. She opposes laws against prostitution, pornography, drugs, and abortion. She is also opposed to affirmative action laws. Some of her views have been characterized as conservative, although when asked in 2017 if she considers herself a cultural Conservative she replied: "No, not at all.... Conservative would mean I was cleaving to something past which was great, and no longer is.... and usually I'm not saying we should return to anything. I do believe we're moving inexorably into the future."
Paglia criticized Bill Clinton for not resigning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which she says "paralyzed the government for two years, leading directly to our blindsiding by 9/11". In the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, she voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader "[because] I detest the arrogant, corrupt superstructure of the Democratic Party, with which I remain stubbornly registered."
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Paglia supported John Kerry, and in 2008 she supported Barack Obama. In 2012, she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Paglia was highly critical of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "fraud" and a "liar". Paglia refused to support either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, indicating in a March Salon column that if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's nomination, she would either cast a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders or else vote for Green Party candidate Stein, as she did in 2012. Paglia later clarified in a statement that she would vote for Stein.
In 2017, she stated that she is a registered Democrat who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and for Jill Stein in the 2016 general election. For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Paglia criticized the Democratic Party for lacking a coherent message and a strong candidate. She disavowed Sanders as being "way too old and creaky" and retracted her initial support for Kamala Harris for missing "a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role." Citing the "need to project steadiness, substance, and warmth," Paglia expressed interest in Cheri Bustos and Steve Bullock as potential candidates.
Child sexuality
In 1993, Paglia signed a manifesto supporting NAMBLA, a pederasty and pedophilia advocacy organization. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to 14. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette, "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography.
She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018 by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, "In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Books
Sexual Personae
Paglia's Sexual Personae was rejected by at least seven different publishers before it was published by Yale University Press, whereupon it became a best seller, reaching seventh place on the paperback best-seller list, a rare accomplishment for a scholarly book. 'Paglia called it her "prison book", commenting, "I felt like Cervantes, Genet. It took all the resources of being Catholic to cut myself off and sit in my cell." Sexual Personae has been called an "energetic, Freud-friendly reading of Western art", one that seemed "heretical and perverse", at the height of political correctness; according to Daniel Nester, its characterization of "William Blake as the British Marquis de Sade or Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as 'self-ruling hermaphrodites who cannot mate' still pricks up many an English major's ears".
In the book, Paglia argues that human nature has an inherently dangerous Dionysian or chthonic aspect, especially in regard to sexuality. Culture and civilization are created by men and represent an attempt to contain that force. Women are powerful, too, but as natural forces, and both marriage and religion are means to contain chaotic forces. A best seller, it was described by Terry Teachout in a New York Times book review as being both "intellectually stimulating" and "exasperating". Sexual Personae received critical reviews from numerous feminist scholars. Anthony Burgess described Sexual Personae as "a fine disturbing book" that "seeks to attack the reader's emotions as well as his or her prejudices".
Sex, Art and American Culture
Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays (1992) is a collection of short pieces, many published previously as editorials or reviews, and some transcripts of interviews. The essays cover such subjects as Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor, rock music, Robert Mapplethorpe, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, rape, Marlon Brando, drag, Milton Kessler, and academia. It made The New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks.
Vamps and Tramps
Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994) is a collection of 42 short articles and a long essay, "No Law in the Arena: a Pagan Theory of Sexuality". It also contains a collection of cartoons from newspapers about Paglia. Writing for The New York Times, Wendy Steiner wrote "Comic, camp, outspoken, Ms. Paglia throws an absurdist shoe into the ponderous wheels of academia". Michiko Kakutani, also writing for The New York Times, wrote: "Her writings on education ... are highly persuasive, just as some of her essays on the perils of regulating pornography and the puritanical excesses of the women's movement radiate a fierce common sense ... Unfortunately, Ms. Paglia has a way of undermining her more interesting arguments with flip, hyperbolic declarations".
The Birds
In 1998, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds, the British Film Institute commissioned Paglia to write a book about the film. The book interprets the film as "in the main line of British Romanticism descending from the raw nature-tableaux and sinister femme-fatales of Coleridge". Paglia uses a psychoanalytic framework to interpret the film as portraying "a release of primitive forces of sex and appetite that have been subdued but never fully tamed".
Break, Blow, Burn
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005) is a collection of 43 short selections of verse with an accompanying essay by Paglia. The collection is oriented primarily to those unfamiliar with the works. Clive James wrote that Paglia tends to focus on American works as it moves from Shakespeare forward through time, with Yeats, following Coleridge, as the last European discussed, but emphasized her range of sympathy and her ability to juxtapose and unite distinct art forms in her analysis.
Glittering Images
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012) is a series of essays about notable works of art from ancient to modern times, published in October 2012. Writer John Adams of The New York Times Book Review was skeptical of the book, accusing it of being "so agenda driven and so riddled with polemic asides that its potential to persuade is forever being compromised". Gary Rosen of The Wall Street Journal, however, praised the book's "impressive range" and accessibility to readers.
Free Women, Free Men
Paglia's Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism was published by Pantheon in 2017. It is a series of essays from 1990 onward. Dwight Garner in The New York Times wrote Paglia's essays address two main targets: modern feminism, which, Paglia writes, "has become a catchall vegetable drawer where bunches of clingy sob sisters can store their moldy neuroses," and modern American universities, of which she asks, "How is it possible that today’s academic left has supported rather than protested campus speech codes as well as the grotesque surveillance and overregulation of student life?"
Provocations
Paglia's fourth essay collection, Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education, was published by Pantheon on October 9, 2018.
Works
The Birds (BFI Film Classics) (1998)
Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems (2005)
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars (2012)
Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, and Feminism (2017)
Provocations: Collected Essays (2018)
References
Sources
External links
Salon Articles by Camille Paglia
In Depth interview with Paglia, August 3, 2003
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American writers
20th-century atheists
20th-century scholars
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American essayists
21st-century atheists
21st-century scholars
21st-century American women writers
American art historians
Women art historians
American atheists
American columnists
American cultural critics
American feminist writers
American film critics
American film historians
American former Christians
American humanities academics
American libertarians
American literary critics
Women literary critics
American political writers
American women academics
American women historians
American writers of Italian descent
Atheist feminists
Bennington College faculty
Binghamton University alumni
Bisexual feminists
Bisexual women
Bisexual writers
Critics of postmodernism
Feminist theorists
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Former Roman Catholics
Free speech activists
Individualist feminists
Journalists from New York (state)
LGBT historians
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New York (state) Democrats
Nottingham High School (Syracuse, New York) alumni
Pedophile advocacy
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Salon (website) people
Sex-positive feminists
Social critics
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty
American women columnists
Women film critics
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University alumni
Historians from Pennsylvania
Transgender and transsexual academics
Historians from New York (state)
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[
"Sontag is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:\n\n Alan Sontag (born 1946), American bridge player and author\n Andrzej Sontag (born 1952), Polish triple jumper\n Brett Sontag (born 1970), American racecar driver\n Eduardo Daniel Sontag (born 1951), American/Argentine mathematician\n Frank Sontag (born 1955), American talk radio show host\n Frederick Sontag (1924–2009) American author and educator\n George Contant Sontag (1864–unknown), American outlaw\n Henriette Sontag (1806–1854), German operatic soprano\n John Sontag (1861–1893, American outlaw\n Susan Sontag (1933–2004), American essayist, novelist, filmmaker, and activist\n Tiga Sontag (born 1974), Canadian DJ/producer\n Tony Sontag, English darts player\n\nSee also\n Sontag, Mississippi, community in north west Lawrence County, Mississippi\n \n Sonntag (disambiguation)",
"Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay \"Notes on 'Camp'\", in 1964. Her best-known works include the critical works Against Interpretation (1966), Styles of Radical Will (1968), On Photography (1977), and Illness as Metaphor (1978), as well as the fictional works The Way We Live Now (1986), The Volcano Lover (1992), and In America (1999).\n\nSontag was active in writing and speaking about, or travelling to, areas of conflict, including during the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo. She wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, AIDS and illness, human rights, and leftist ideology. Her essays and speeches drew controversy, and she has been described as \"one of the most influential critics of her generation.\"\n\nEarly life and education\nSontag was born Susan Rosenblatt in New York City, the daughter of Mildred (née Jacobson) and Jack Rosenblatt, both Jews of Lithuanian and Polish descent. Her father managed a fur trading business in China, where he died of tuberculosis in 1939, when Susan was five years old. Seven years later, Sontag's mother married U.S. Army captain Nathan Sontag. Susan and her sister, Judith, took their stepfather's surname, although he did not adopt them formally. Sontag did not have a religious upbringing and said she had not entered a synagogue until her mid-20s.\n\nRemembering an unhappy childhood, with a cold, distant mother who was \"always away\", Sontag lived on Long Island, New York, then in Tucson, Arizona, and later in the San Fernando Valley in southern California, where she took refuge in books and graduated from North Hollywood High School at the age of 15. She began her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley but transferred to the University of Chicago in admiration of its prominent core curriculum. At Chicago, she undertook studies in philosophy, ancient history, and literature alongside her other requirements. Leo Strauss, Joseph Schwab, Christian Mackauer, Richard McKeon, Peter von Blanckenhagen and Kenneth Burke were among her lecturers. She graduated at the age of 18 with an A.B. and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While at Chicago, she became best friends with fellow student Mike Nichols. In 1951, her work appeared in print for the first time in the winter issue of the Chicago Review.\n\nAt 17, Sontag married writer Philip Rieff, who was a sociology instructor at the University of Chicago, after a 10-day courtship; their marriage lasted eight years. While studying at Chicago, Sontag attended a summer school taught by the sociologist who became a friend and subsequently influenced her study of German thinkers. Upon completing her Chicago degree, Sontag taught freshman English at the University of Connecticut for the 1952–53 academic year. She attended Harvard University for graduate school, initially studying literature with Perry Miller and Harry Levin before moving into philosophy and theology under Paul Tillich, Jacob Taubes, Raphael Demos and Morton White. After completing her Master of Arts in philosophy, she began doctoral research into metaphysics, ethics, Greek philosophy and Continental philosophy and theology at Harvard. The philosopher Herbert Marcuse lived with Sontag and Rieff for a year while working on his 1955 book Eros and Civilization. Sontag researched for Rieff's 1959 study Freud: The Mind of the Moralist before their divorce in 1958, and contributed to the book to such an extent that she has been considered an unofficial co-author. The couple had a son, David Rieff, who went on to be his mother's editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, as well as a writer in his own right.\n\nSontag was awarded an American Association of University Women's fellowship for the 1957–1958 academic year to St Anne's College, Oxford, where she traveled without her husband and son. There, she had classes with Iris Murdoch, Stuart Hampshire, A. J. Ayer and H. L. A. Hart while also attending the B. Phil seminars of J. L. Austin and the lectures of Isaiah Berlin. Oxford did not appeal to her, however, and she transferred after Michaelmas term of 1957 to the University of Paris (the Sorbonne). In Paris, Sontag socialized with expatriate artists and academics including Allan Bloom, Jean Wahl, Alfred Chester, Harriet Sohmers and María Irene Fornés. Sontag remarked that her time in Paris was, perhaps, the most important period of her life. It certainly provided the basis of her long intellectual and artistic association with the culture of France. She moved to New York in 1959 to live with Fornés for the next seven years, regaining custody of her son and teaching at universities while her literary reputation grew.\n\nFiction\n\nWhile working on her stories, Sontag taught philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College and City University of New York and the Philosophy of Religion with Jacob Taubes, Susan Taubes, Theodor Gaster, and Hans Jonas, in the Religion Department at Columbia University from 1960 to 1964. She held a writing fellowship at Rutgers University for 1964 to 1965 before ending her relationship with academia in favor of full-time freelance writing.\n\nAt age 30, she published an experimental novel called The Benefactor (1963), following it four years later with Death Kit (1967). Despite a relatively small output, Sontag thought of herself principally as a novelist and writer of fiction. Her short story \"The Way We Live Now\" was published to great acclaim on November 24, 1986 in The New Yorker. Written in an experimental narrative style, it remains a significant text on the AIDS epidemic. She achieved late popular success as a best-selling novelist with The Volcano Lover (1992). At age 67, Sontag published her final novel In America (2000). The last two novels were set in the past, which Sontag said gave her greater freedom to write in the polyphonic voice:\n\nShe wrote and directed four films and also wrote several plays, the most successful of which were Alice in Bed and Lady from the Sea.\n\nNonfiction\nIt was through her essays that Sontag gained early fame and notoriety. Sontag wrote frequently about the intersection of high and low art and expanded the dichotomy concept of form and art in every medium. She elevated camp to the status of recognition with her widely read 1964 essay \"Notes on 'Camp,'\" which accepted art as including common, absurd and burlesque themes.\n\nIn 1977, Sontag published the series of essays On Photography. These essays are an exploration of photographs as a collection of the world, mainly by travelers or tourists, and the way we experience it. In the essays, she outlined her theory of taking pictures as you travel:\nThe method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic—Germans, Japanese and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures. (p. 10)\n\nSontag writes that the convenience of modern photography has created an overabundance of visual material, and \"just about everything has been photographed.\" This has altered our expectations of what we have the right to view, want to view or should view. \"In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notion of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe\" and has changed our \"viewing ethics.\" Photographs have increased our access to knowledge and experiences of history and faraway places, but the images may replace direct experience and limit reality. She also states that photography desensitizes its audience to horrific human experiences, and children are exposed to experiences before they are ready for them.\n\nSontag continued to theorize about the role of photography in real life in her essay \"Looking at War: Photography's View of Devastation and Death,\" which appeared in the December 9, 2002 issue of The New Yorker. There she concludes that the problem of our reliance on images and especially photographic images is not that \"people remember through photographs but that they remember only the photographs ... that the photographic image eclipses other forms of understanding—and remembering. ... To remember is, more and more, not to recall a story but to be able to call up a picture\" (p. 94).\n\nShe became a role-model for many feminists and aspiring female writers during the 1960s and 1970s.\n\nActivism\nSontag became politically active in the 1960s, opposing the Vietnam War. In January 1968, she signed the \"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest\" pledge, vowing to refuse to pay a proposed 10% Vietnam War surtax. In May 1968, she visited Hanoi; afterwards, she wrote positively about North Vietnamese society in her essay Trip to Hanoi.\n\nDuring 1989 Sontag was the President of PEN American Center, the main U.S. branch of the International PEN writers' organization. After Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa death sentence against writer Salman Rushdie for blasphemy after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses that year, Sontag's uncompromising support of Rushdie was crucial in rallying American writers to his cause.\n\nA few years later, during the Siege of Sarajevo, Sontag gained attention for directing a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in a candlelit theater in the Bosnian capital, cut off from its electricity supply for three and a half years. Sarajevo's besieged residents reaction was noted as:To the people of Sarajevo, Ms. Sontag has become a symbol, interviewed frequently by the local newspapers and television, invited to speak at gatherings everywhere, asked for autographs on the street. After the opening performance of the play, the city's Mayor, Muhamed Kreševljaković, came onstage to declare her an honorary citizen, the only foreigner other than the recently departed United Nations commander, Lieut. Gen. Phillippe Morillon, to be so named.\n\n\"It is for your bravery, in coming here, living here, and working with us,\" he said.\n\nPersonal life\nSontag's mother died of lung cancer in Hawaii in 1986.\n\nSontag died in New York City on December 28, 2004, aged 71, from complications of myelodysplastic syndrome which had evolved into acute myelogenous leukemia. She is buried in Paris at Cimetière du Montparnasse. Her final illness has been chronicled by her son, David Rieff.\n\nSexuality and relationships\n\nSontag became aware of her bisexuality during her early teens and at 15 wrote in her diary, \"I feel I have lesbian tendencies (how reluctantly I write this).\" At 16, she had a sexual encounter with a woman: \"Perhaps I was drunk, after all, because it was so beautiful when H began making love to me...It had been 4:00 before we had gotten to bed...I became fully conscious that I desired her, she knew it, too.\"\n\nSontag lived with 'H,' the writer and model Harriet Sohmers Zwerling, whom she first met at U. C. Berkeley from 1958 to 1959. Afterwards, Sontag was the partner of María Irene Fornés, a Cuban-American avant garde playwright and director. Upon splitting with Fornés, she was involved with an Italian aristocrat, Carlotta Del Pezzo, and the German academic Eva Kollisch. Sontag was romantically involved with the American artists Jasper Johns and Paul Thek. During the early 1970s, Sontag lived with Nicole Stéphane, a Rothschild banking heiress turned movie actress, and, later, the choreographer Lucinda Childs. She also had a relationship with the writer Joseph Brodsky. With Annie Leibovitz, Sontag maintained a relationship stretching from the later 1980s until her final years.\n\nSontag had a close romantic relationship with photographer Annie Leibovitz. They met in 1989, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work. During Sontag's lifetime, neither woman publicly disclosed whether the relationship was a friendship or romantic in nature. Newsweek in 2006 made reference to Leibovitz's decade-plus relationship with Sontag, stating, \"The two first met in the late '80s, when Leibovitz photographed her for a book jacket. They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other's.\" Leibovitz, when interviewed for her 2006 book A Photographer's Life: 1990–2005, said the book told a number of stories, and that \"with Susan, it was a love story.\" While The New York Times in 2009 referred to Sontag as Leibovitz's \"companion,\" Leibovitz wrote in A Photographer's Life that, \"Words like 'companion' and 'partner' were not in our vocabulary. We were two people who helped each other through our lives. The closest word is still 'friend.'\" That same year, Leibovitz said the descriptor \"lover\" was accurate. She later reiterated, \"Call us 'lovers.' I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan.\"\n\nIn an interview in The Guardian in 2000, Sontag was quite open about bisexuality:\n\nMany of Sontag's obituaries failed to mention her significant same-sex relationships, most notably that with Annie Leibovitz. In response to this criticism, Daniel Okrent, public editor of The New York Times defended the newspaper's obituary, stating that at the time of Sontag's death, a reporter could make no independent verification of her romantic relationship with Leibovitz (despite attempts to do so). After Sontag's death, Newsweek published an article about Annie Leibovitz that made clear references to her decade-plus relationship with Sontag.\n\nSontag was quoted by Editor-in-Chief Brendan Lemon of Out magazine as saying \"I grew up in a time when the modus operandi was the 'open secret.' I'm used to that, and quite OK with it. Intellectually, I know why I haven't spoken more about my sexuality, but I do wonder if I haven't repressed something there to my detriment. Maybe I could have given comfort to some people if I had dealt with the subject of my private sexuality more, but it's never been my prime mission to give comfort, unless somebody's in drastic need. I'd rather give pleasure, or shake things up.\"\n\nLegacy\nFollowing Sontag's death, Steve Wasserman of the Los Angeles Times called her \"one of America’s most influential intellectuals, internationally renowned for the passionate engagement and breadth of her critical intelligence and her ardent activism in the cause of human rights.\" Eric Homberger of The Guardian called Sontag \"the 'Dark Lady' of American cultural life for over four decades.\" He observed that \"despite a brimming and tartly phrased political sensibility, she was fundamentally an aesthete [who] offered a reorientation of American cultural horizons.\"\n\nWriting about Against Interpretation (1966), Brandon Robshaw of The Independent later observed that \"Sontag was remarkably prescient; her project of analysing popular culture as well as high culture, the Doors as well as Dostoevsky, is now common practice throughout the educated world.\" In Critique and Postcritique (2017), Rita Felski and Elizabeth S. Anker argue that the title essay from the aforementioned collection played an important role in the field of postcritique, a movement within literary criticism and cultural studies that attempts to find new forms of reading and interpretation that go beyond the methods of critique, critical theory, and ideological criticism.\n\nReviewing Sontag's On Photography (1977) in 1998, Michael Starenko wrote that the work \"has become so deeply absorbed into this discourse that Sontag's claims about photography, as well as her mode of argument, have become part of the rhetorical 'tool kit' that photography theorists and critics carry around in their heads.\"\n\nCriticism\n\nWhite civilization as a cancer\nSontag drew criticism for writing in 1967 in Partisan Review:\n\nAccording to journalist Mark M. Goldblatt, Sontag later made a \"sarcastic retraction, saying the line slanders cancer patients.\" According to Eliot Weinberger, \"She came to regret that last phrase, and wrote a whole book against the use of illness as metaphor.\" However, he writes, this didn't lead to any \"public curiosity about those who are not cancerously white.\" \"She may well have been the last unashamed Eurocentrist.\"\n\nAllegations of plagiarism\nEllen Lee accused Sontag of plagiarism when Lee discovered at least twelve passages in In America (1999) that were similar to, or copied from, passages in four other books about Helena Modjeska without attribution. Sontag said about using the passages, \"All of us who deal with real characters in history transcribe and adopt original sources in the original domain. I've used these sources and I've completely transformed them. There's a larger argument to be made that all of literature is a series of references and allusions.\"\n\nIn a 2007 letter to the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, John Lavagnino identified an unattributed citation from Roland Barthes' 1970 essay \"S/Z\" in Sontag's 2004 speech \"At the Same Time: The Novelist and Moral Reasoning,\" delivered as the Nadine Gordimer Lecture in March 2004. Further research led Lavagnino to identify several passages which appeared to have been taken without attribution from an essay on hypertext fiction by Laura Miller, originally published in the New York Times Book Review six years earlier. Writing for the Observer, Michael Calderone interviewed Sontag's publisher about the allegations, who argued, “This was a speech, not a formal essay,” and that “Susan herself never prepared it for publication.”\n\nOn Communism\nAt a New York pro-Solidarity rally in 1982, Sontag stated that \"people on the left,\" like herself, \"have willingly or unwillingly told a lot of lies.\" She added that they:\n\nSontag's speech reportedly \"drew boos and shouts from the audience.\" The Nation published her speech, excluding the passage contrasting the magazine with Reader's Digest. Responses to her statement were varied. Some said that Sontag's current sentiments had been, in fact, held by many on the left for years, while others accused her of betraying \"radical ideas.\"\n\nOn the September 11 attacks\nSontag received angry criticism for her remarks in The New Yorker (September 24, 2001) about the immediate aftermath of 9/11. In her commentary, she referred to the attacks as a \"monstrous dose of reality\" and criticized U.S. public officials and media commentators for trying to convince the American public that \"everything is O.K.\" Specifically, she opposed the idea that the perpetrators were \"cowards,\" a comment George W. Bush made among other remarks on September 11. Rather, she argued the country should see the terrorists' actions not as \"a 'cowardly' attack on 'civilization' or 'liberty' or 'humanity' or 'the free world' but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions.\"\n\nCriticisms from other writers\nTom Wolfe dismissed Sontag as \"just another scribbler who spent her life signing up for protest meetings and lumbering to the podium encumbered by her prose style, which had a handicapped parking sticker valid at Partisan Review.\"\n\nIn \"Sontag, Bloody Sontag\", an essay in her 1994 book Vamps & Tramps, critic Camille Paglia describes her initial admiration and subsequent disillusionment. She mentions several criticisms of Sontag, including Harold Bloom's comment of \"Mere Sontagisme!\" on Paglia's doctoral dissertation, and states that Sontag \"had become synonymous with a shallow kind of hip posturing.\" Paglia also tells of a visit by Sontag to Bennington College, in which she arrived hours late and ignored the agreed-upon topic of the event.\n\nNassim Nicholas Taleb in his book Skin in the Game criticizes Sontag and other people with extravagant lifestyles who nevertheless declare themselves \"against the market system\". Taleb assesses Sontag's shared New York mansion at $28 million, and states that \"it is immoral to be in opposition to the market system and not live (somewhere in Vermont or Northwestern Afghanistan) in a hut or cave isolated from it.\" Taleb also argues that it is even more immoral to \"claim virtue without fully living with its direct consequences.\"\n\nWorks\n\nFiction\n (1963) The Benefactor \n (1967) Death Kit \n (1977) I, etcetera (Collection of short stories) \n (1991) \"The Way We Live Now\" (short story) \n (1992) The Volcano Lover \n (1999) In America – winner of the 2000 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction\n\nPlays\n The Way We Live Now (1990) about the AIDS epidemic\n A Parsifal (1991), a deconstruction inspired by Robert Wilson's 1991 staging of the Wagner opera\n Alice in Bed (1993), about 19th century intellectual Alice James, who was confined to bed by illness\nLady from the Sea, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1888 play of the same name, premiered in 1998 in Italy. Sontag wrote an essay about it in 1999 in Theatre called \"Rewriting Lady from the Sea.\"\n\nNonfiction\n\nCollections of essays\n (1966) Against Interpretation (includes Notes on \"Camp\")\n (1969) Styles of Radical Will \n (1980) Under the Sign of Saturn \n (2001) Where the Stress Falls \n (2003) Regarding the Pain of Others \n (2007) At the Same Time: Essays & Speeches (edited by Paolo Dilonardo and Anne Jump, with a foreword by David Rieff)\n\nSontag also published nonfiction essays in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, Granta, Partisan Review and the London Review of Books.\n\nMonographs\n (1959) Freud: The Mind of the Moralist\n (1977) On Photography \n (1978) Illness as Metaphor \n (1988) AIDS and Its Metaphors (a continuation of Illness as Metaphor) \n (2003) Regarding the Pain of Others\n\nFilms\n(1969) Duett för kannibaler (Duet for Cannibals)\n(1971) Broder Carl (Brother Carl)\n(1974) Promised Lands\n(1983) Unguided Tour AKA Letter from Venice\n\nOther works\n(2002) Liner notes for the Patti Smith album Land\n(2004) Contribution of phrases to Fischerspooner's third album Odyssey\n(2008) Reborn: Journals and Notebooks 1947–1963\n(2012) As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964–1980.\n\nAwards and honors\n 1977: National Book Critics Circle Award for On Photography\n 1990: MacArthur Fellowship\n 1992: Malaparte Prize, Italy\n 1999: Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, France\n 2000: National Book Award for In America\n 2001: Jerusalem Prize, awarded every two years to a writer whose work explores the freedom of the individual in society.\n 2002: George Polk Award, for Cultural Criticism for \"Looking at War,\" in The New Yorker\n 2003: Honorary Doctorate of Tübingen University\n 2003: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels during the Frankfurt Book Fair\n 2003: Prince of Asturias Award on Literature.\n 2004: Two days after her death, Muhidin Hamamdzic, the mayor of Sarajevo announced the city would name a street after her, calling her an \"author and a humanist who actively participated in the creation of the history of Sarajevo and Bosnia.\" Theatre Square outside the National Theatre was promptly proposed to be renamed Susan Sontag Theatre Square. It took 5 years, however, for that tribute to become official. On January 13, 2010, the city of Sarajevo posted a plate with a new street name for Theater Square: Theater Square of Susan Sontag.\n\nDigital archive\nA digital archive of 17,198 of Sontag's emails is kept by the UCLA Department of Special Collections at the Charles E. Young Research Library. Her archive—and the efforts to make it publicly available while protecting it from bit rot—are the subject of the book On Excess: Susan Sontag's Born-Digital Archive, by Jeremy Schmidt and Jacquelyn Ardam.\n\nDocumentary\nA documentary about Sontag directed by Nancy Kates, titled Regarding Susan Sontag, was released in 2014. It received the Special Jury Mention for Best Documentary Feature at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.\n\nSee also\n LGBT culture in New York City\n List of LGBT people from New York City\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n Poague, Leland (ed.) Conversations with Susan Sontag, University of Mississippi Press, 1995 \n Rollyson, Carl and Lisa Paddock, Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, W. W. Norton, 2000\n\n Weingrad, Michael. The Sorry Significance of Susan Sontag, online 'Mosaic,' November 12, 2019; (a review of B. Moser's book 'Sontag').\n\nFurther reading\n Susan Sontag: The Elegiac Modernist by Sohnya Sayres, (1990)\n Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon by Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock, (2000)\n Sontag and Kael by Craig Seligman, (2004)\n The Din in the Head by Cynthia Ozick, (2006; Sontag is discussed in the foreword, \"On Discord and Desire\")\n Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir by David Rieff, (2008)\n Notes on Sontag by Phillip Lopate, (2009)\n Susan Sontag: A Biography by Daniel Schreiber (trans. David Dollenmayer), Northwestern (2014)\n Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag by Sigrid Nunez, (2014)\n Tough Enough: Arbus, Arendt, Didion, McCarthy, Sontag, Weil by Deborah Nelson, (2017)\n Susan Sontag und Thomas Mann by Kai Sina, (2017)\n Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser, HarperCollins, (2019)\n\nExternal links\n\n \n \n \"with Ramona Koval,\" Books and Writing, ABC Radio National, January 30, 2005\n Susan Sontag and Richard Howard from \"The Writer, The Work,\" a series sponsored by PEN and curated by Susan Sontag\n Susan Sontag wrote an essay: On American Language and Culture from PEN American Center\n The Politics of Translation: Discussion, with panel members Susan Sontag, Esther Allen, Ammiel Alcalay, Michael Hofmann & Steve Wasserman, PEN American Center\n Susan Sontag – Photos by Mathieu Bourgois.\n The Friedenspreis acceptance speech (2003-10-12)\n Fascinating Fascism illustrated text of Sontag's foundational 1974 article on Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's aesthetics, from Under the Sign of Saturn\n Sontag's comments in The New Yorker, September 24, 2001 about the September 11 attack on the United States\n Terry Castle, Desperately Seeking Susan, London Review of Books, March 2005\n Sheelah Kolhatkar, \"Notes on camp Sontag\" New York Observer, January 8, 2005\n \n 'Susan Sontag: The Collector,' by Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Republic\nA review of \"Reborn\" by James Patrick\n \nIn Depth interview with Sontag, March 2, 2003\n \n\n1933 births\n2004 deaths\nDeaths from myelodysplastic syndrome\nAmerican anti-communists\nAmerican feminist writers\nAmerican film critics\nAmerican literary critics\nWomen literary critics\nAmerican historical novelists\nAmerican women novelists\nBisexual writers\nBisexual women\nJewish American writers\nJewish women writers\nJewish philosophers\nAmerican LGBT novelists\nPhotography critics\nWomen film critics\nWomen historical novelists\nMacArthur Fellows\nNational Book Award winners\nJerusalem Prize recipients\nAmerican women activists\nBisexual feminists\nJewish feminists\nLGBT Jews\nAmerican anti–Vietnam War activists\nAlumni of St Anne's College, Oxford\nHarvard University alumni\nSarah Lawrence College faculty\nUniversity of California, Berkeley alumni\nUniversity of Chicago alumni\nUniversity of Paris alumni\nAmerican expatriates in France\nAmerican people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent\nAmerican people of Polish-Jewish descent\nLGBT people from New York (state)\nLGBT people from Arizona\nLiberalism in the United States\nWriters from Tucson, Arizona\nNovelists from Arizona\nWriters from New York City\nDeaths from cancer in New York (state)\nDeaths from leukemia\nBurials at Montparnasse Cemetery\n20th-century American essayists\n21st-century American essayists\n20th-century American historians\n21st-century American historians\n20th-century American novelists\n21st-century American novelists\n20th-century American women writers\n21st-century American women writers\nNovelists from New York (state)\nAmerican women historians\nBisexual academics\nPeople involved in plagiarism controversies\nNorth Hollywood High School alumni\nHistorians from New York (state)\nLGBT philosophers\nAmerican women critics"
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"John Maulbetsch",
"1914 Harvard game"
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What happened in the 1914 harvard game
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What happened in the 1914 Harvard game with John Maulbetsch?
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John Maulbetsch
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Maulbetsch's breakthrough came on October 31, 1914, in front of 30,000 fans at Harvard. The game was one of the most anticipated matches of the year. A special train brought Michigan fans to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hundreds of Michigan alumni from the East were on hand as "reinforcements." Though Harvard prevailed, 7-0, Maulbetsch was the big story in papers across the country. Writers from Ring Lardner to Damon Runyon told the story of Maulbetsch's performance. Lardner said: "If anyone tells you the East plays the best brand of football, Maulbetsch shot that theory full of holes." According to Runyon, the Wolverines used "the mighty Maulbetsch as their battering ram", and he "gained enough ground against Harvard to bury a German army corps." Football writer Frank G. Menke said: "No westerner ever created half the stir in the east as did this Michigander . . . His peculiar, baffling style of attack, backed by phenomenal strength almost always earned for him gains of 5 to 20 yards every time he was called upon to carry the ball." Another writer noted Maulbetsch's skill as a "line breaker" as he "carried the ball repeatedly through the Harvard line and into the secondary defense with bullet-like rushes that upset tackler after tackler." Maulbetsch was responsible for four-fifths of Michigan's ground gains, and on several occasions his dives reportedly "had so much power that he dove right through a double line of crimson players and went sprawling on the ground twelve to twenty feet clear of the double line." While every report indicates that Maulbetsch had a big day, the accounts vary dramatically as to exactly how many yards he gained. Frank Menke reported after the game that Maulbetsch gained 300 yards. A 1938 newspaper account said he "gained 350 yards from scrimmage." Yet, his 1951 obituary indicated he gained 133 yards in 30 attempts. Despite Maulbetsch's efforts, Michigan was never able to punch the ball across the goal line. Many blamed Michigan's quarterback who switched to another back every time after Maulbetsch "took the ball to the shadow of the Crimson goal posts." In answer to the question why Michigan was unable to score, Frank Menke said: "Ask the fellow who quarterbacked for Michigan that day. His actions were too mystifying for the spectators to figure out." When Harvard reneged on an agreement to play a game in Ann Arbor in 1915, sports writers concluded it was to avoid facing Maulbetsch again. Said one reporter: "When faih Hahvahd [sic] saw what Maulbetsch did in the first clash, it decided it cared to see no more of him. He was too rough." CANNOTANSWER
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Maulbetsch's breakthrough came on October 31, 1914, in front of 30,000 fans at Harvard.
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John Frederick Maulbetsch (June 20, 1890 – September 14, 1950) was an All-American football halfback at Adrian College in 1911 and for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1914 to 1916. He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
After playing with an independent football team in Ann Arbor and at Adrian College, Maulbetsch became one of the most famous American football players in 1914 while playing for the University of Michigan. Maulbetsch became known as the "Human Bullet" because of his unusual low, line-plunging style of play, and was also known as the "Featherweight Fullback" because of his light weight and small size. After his performance against Harvard in 1914, in which some reports indicated he gained more than 300 yards, eastern writers, including Damon Runyon, wrote articles touting Maulbetsch. Maulbetsch was also selected by Walter Camp to his All-American team.
In 1915, Maulbetsch underwent surgery for appendicitis and did not perform to the same level as he had in 1914. He made a comeback as a senior in 1916 and was again one of the leading players in college football.
Between 1917 and 1920, Maulbetsch was the head football coach at Phillips University. With Maulbetsch's name recognition, he was able to recruit big name talent to Phillips, including future Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Owen, and future United States Olympic Committee President Doug Roby. Maulbetsch quickly turned Phillips into one of the top programs in the southwest, as his teams beat Oklahoma and Texas and lost only one game in the 1918 and 1919 seasons. Maulbetsch was later the football coach at Oklahoma A&M (later known as Oklahoma State) and Marshall College in the 1920s. He has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and the University of Michigan awards the John F. Maulbetsch Award each year to a freshman football player based on desire, character, and capacity for leadership and future success both on and off the football field.
Ann Arbor High School and the Independents
Maulbetsch was born and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended Ann Arbor High School where he led the football team to consecutive state championships in 1908 and 1909. One account of the 1908 playoffs noted: "Ann Arbor's smashing play in the first half was wholly due to Maulbetsch, Ann Arbor's fullback, and his terrific line bucking. He clearly outshone his team mates."
After graduating from high school, Maulbetsch joined the Ann Arbor Independents, a football team made up of Michigan "varsity eligibles" and "townies." Maulbetsch was once reportedly called upon to drive across the goal line for the Independents in a game in which a large crowd, including a farmer with his plow-horse, gathered in the end zone. "Head down and legs working like piston rods, Maulbetsch plowed ahead until head struck the plow horse amidships. Down went the horse Mauly on top of him."
College football player
Transfer from Adrian College
Maulbetsch started his college football career at age 21, leading Adrian College to an 8–0 record in 1911, including a 15–0 win over the University of Michigan freshman team. Maulbetsch's performance drew the attention of Michigan Coach Fielding H. Yost. After watching Maulbetsch dominate Michigan's freshman team, Yost concluded: "If I could get that kid into Michigan and keep him up in his studies I’d make an All-American place for him his first year." Yost persuaded Maulbetsch to transfer, and he played with "the scrubs" in 1912. Yost told the press at the time he had "another (Willie) Heston" in Maulbetsch.
1914 season
Maulbetsch did not play for the varsity team until the fall of 1914 when he was 24 years old. Before the season began, Maulbetsch was "touted as one of the fastest halfbacks who ever donned moleskins. He weighs 155 pounds, is built low, has a powerful pair of shoulders and his dashes are characterized by lightning speed." Another pre-season account said he was "a wonder as a line plunger and a wizard in the open field." From the outset, considerable attention was paid to his unusual running style. Observers noted "the peculiar manner in which he runs. . . . He has a corkscrew style of dashing, and even when tackled squarely has such a sturdy pair of legs that his assailant is usually carried back several yards."
Michigan opened the season with a 58–0 win over DePauw, followed by a 69–0 victory over Case Institute of Technology. Maulbetsch was the offensive star against Case, as he twice "carried several would-be tackles across the goal." Playing Vanderbilt the following week, Maulbetsch had runs of 25 and 35 yards, scored two touchdowns, "was worked overtime and probably advanced the pigskin more than any two other players." After starting the season 5–0, Michigan lost three of four games against top eastern schools: Syracuse, Harvard, Penn, and Cornell.
1914 Harvard game
Maulbetsch's breakthrough came on October 31, 1914, in front of 30,000 fans at Harvard. The game was one of the most anticipated matches of the year. A special train brought Michigan fans to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hundreds of Michigan alumni from the East were on hand as "reinforcements." Though Harvard prevailed, 7–0, Maulbetsch was the big story in papers across the country. Writers from Ring Lardner to Damon Runyon told the story of Maulbetsch's performance. Lardner said: "If anyone tells you the East plays the best brand of football, Maulbetsch shot that theory full of holes." According to Runyon, the Wolverines used "the mighty Maulbetsch as their battering ram", and he "gained enough ground against Harvard to bury a German army corps." Football writer Frank G. Menke said: "No westerner ever created half the stir in the east as did this Michigander . . . His peculiar, baffling style of attack, backed by phenomenal strength almost always earned for him gains of 5 to 20 yards every time he was called upon to carry the ball." Another writer noted Maulbetsch's skill as a "line breaker" as he "carried the ball repeatedly through the Harvard line and into the secondary defense with bullet-like rushes that upset tackler after tackler." Maulbetsch was responsible for four-fifths of Michigan's ground gains, and on several occasions his dives reportedly "had so much power that he dove right through a double line of crimson players and went sprawling on the ground twelve to twenty feet clear of the double line."
While every report indicates that Maulbetsch had a big day, the accounts vary dramatically as to exactly how many yards he gained. Frank Menke reported after the game that Maulbetsch gained 300 yards. A 1938 newspaper account said he "gained 350 yards from scrimmage." Yet, his 1951 obituary indicated he gained 133 yards in 30 attempts.
Despite Maulbetsch's efforts, Michigan was never able to punch the ball across the goal line. Many blamed Michigan's quarterback who switched to another back every time after Maulbetsch "took the ball to the shadow of the Crimson goal posts." In answer to the question why Michigan was unable to score, Frank Menke said: "Ask the fellow who quarterbacked for Michigan that day. His actions were too mystifying for the spectators to figure out."
When Harvard reneged on an agreement to play a game in Ann Arbor in 1915, sports writers concluded it was to avoid facing Maulbetsch again. Said one reporter: "When faih Hahvahd [sic] saw what Maulbetsch did in the first clash, it decided it cared to see no more of him. He was too rough."
"Human Bullet"
Much of the attention on Maulbetsch focused on his diminutive size and unique running style. At , and , Maulbetsch was a small back, even by the standards of his day. And his running style saw him bend his torso and propel himself like a projectile into the opposing line. Indeed, he won several nicknames based on his size, running style, and fighting spirit, including the "Human Bullet," "Mauly", the "Human Shrapnel", the "Featherweight Fullback", the "Michigan Cannon Ball," and the "German bullet." Comparisons of Maulbetsch to military armaments were common. In addition to the "bullet", "shrapnel", and "cannonball" nicknames, the Syracuse Herald observed: "Standing up in front of a Krupp gun has its dangers, but it is not to be compared with the dangers of standing in front of Maulbetsch when he is going full speed ahead."
Maulbetsch's style was described as "line-plunging." A New York newspaper noted: "When the ball is snapped to him he almost doubles himself up, and, with his head aimed at the knees of the opposing line, he dives head first. Those who have seen Maulbetsch in action marvel at the great momentum he can get up in two or three steps." Noted football writer Walter Eckersall said: "Mauly is a little fellow, being built close to the ground. They say that when he plunges at the line his head is almost on a level with his shoe tops – that he hits so low that it's well nigh impossible to stop him." An Iowa newspaper wondered how it was possible "for a man to smash into a line of human bodies with the force that Maulbetsch does and come out of the game without a broken neck."
Maulbetsch was said to run "so low that he could dash under an ordinary table without losing his feet." At a coaching conference in the 1920s, a coach doubted the table-ducking story and challenged Maulbetsch. The doubter later recalled: "I began ribbing him about this table-ducking stuff and finally offered to bet him he couldn’t do it. Well, we got a table up in a room, Johnny tucked a water pitcher under his arm and backed against the wall. Darned if he didn’t do it, the only thing, that water pitcher broke in a million pieces." Asked about the incident, Maulbetsch said it was true, except one part. Maulbetsch insisted there wasn’t a nick on the pitcher.
Maulbetsch makes All-American
After the loss to Harvard in 1914, Michigan rebounded with a 34–3 win over Penn. Walter Eckersall reported that the Wolverines were "led by the redoubtable Johnny Maulbetsch." Despite being "a marked man" by the Penn defense, he was not thrown for a loss in the entire game, and he scored three touchdowns. Before Michigan lost to Cornell in the final game of the season, a scandal arose when it was revealed that the owner of an Ann Arbor pool room, Joe Reinger, had written a letter intimating that he could buy Maulbetsch and Michigan's quarterback to throw the Cornell game, and win US$50,000 from students willing to bet on Michigan. The letter was turned in to the Michigan athletic officials, and Reinger went to the athletic office "to try to hush the matter up." Reinger became abusive and was thrown out of the office by Coach Yost. The incident caused "the biggest stir of the season on the campus," as students demolished Reinger's pool room, and police had to guard Reinger's residence against threatening demonstrations that continued to "a late hour." Although Michigan did lose to Cornell, Maulbetsch was said to be "practically the only successful ground gainer for Michigan." Over the course of the 1914 season, Maulbetsch was said to have scored about half of Michigan's 252 points. A Wisconsin newspaper noted that, "when it comes time to write a resume of the 1914 football season", Maulbetsch's play "will live in the minds of men . . . for years to come." As a reward for his efforts, Maulbetsch was named a first-team All-American at the end of the 1914 season.
Pie and coffee diet
As public attention focused on Maulbetsch as "the greatest line-plunger of a decade," the press could not get enough of Maulbetsch, even interviewing his family. His sister revealed that Maulbetsch had a fondness for home cooking and received permission from the team trainer to eat at his family's Ann Arbor home. "Now, Johnny's sister explains that each day his mother baked two pies for the athlete's supper, and that in addition he had everything else his appetite craved, including coffee." Confronted by reporters about the revelation, Maulbetsch replied: "The story was slightly exaggerated. I rarely ate more than one and one half pies for dinner." Joking references to Maulbetsch's diet continued when it was reported in 1915 that he was suffering from "acute indigestion." One reporter quipped, "Those much advertised pies of his maw's evidently aren’t as great training dope as they were cracked up to be." It turned out that the indigestion was appendicitis, and Maulbetsch was hospitalized at St. Joseph's Sanitarium in Ann Arbor in April 1915, where he underwent an operation.
1915 season
As the 1915 season was set to get underway, Coach Yost reported, "Johnny told me he was feeling fine when I saw him recently, although he doesn’t weigh as much as he used to." Despite Yost's hopes, Maulbetsch fell far short of the prior year's performance in 1915. He was several pounds lighter after the illness and surgery, and it was noted that "a few pounds means much to a man of Maulbetsch's weight." In the opening game against Lawrence, Maulbetsch scored three touchdowns, but he was "woefully weak on interference." Playing against Mount Union, Maulbetsch made several big gains, including a 50-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. His difficulties returned in the season's third game against Marietta, as "Maulbetsch was powerless to stop the Marietta forward pass, all of the successful ones being directed toward his side of the line."
After The Michigan Daily criticized his performance following the Marietta game, Maulbetsch "threatened to desert the Michigan squad and give up football for good." It reportedly took Yost several hours to coax Maulbetsch to report for practice again, and in the next game against Case, Maulbetsch did not play until the third quarter. In the season's first big game, Michigan was soundly beaten by Michigan Agricultural College, 24–0, and most of Maulbetsch's runs "didn’t even get as far as his own line." In the final four games of the season, matters got worse for Michigan and Maulbetsch, as the team went 0–3–1, scoring only 14 points in four games.
In Maulbetsch's defense, some writers noted the weakness of the Michigan line, often allowing rushers into the backfield before Maulbetsch even had the ball. But some of those same observers noted that "Mauly" was not carrying the ball "at his usual pace." Sports writer Frank Menke described Maulbetsch's 1915 performance this way: "[The] Wolverine halfback skidded from the heights of greatness to the level of mediocre. . . . The lines that he had crumpled like eggshells a year before stood up under his charges, often dumping him back for losses. The once 'unstoppable' Maulbetsch not only was stopped but forced to retract." Despite the subpar performance in 1915, Michigan's varsity letter-winners elected him captain of the team for 1916.
1916 comeback
Maulbetsch made a strong comeback in 1916. Instead of spending the summer recovering from appendicitis, he spent the summer working as an assistant barkeeper on a steamship plying between Chicago and St. Joseph, Michigan. Maulbetsch spent his afternoons swimming and running sprints up and down the beach. On one trip, a giant coal passer claimed to be the strongest man in the world, and Maulbetsch agreed to a wrestling match on the boat. "The coal passer rushed the stripling, who ducked, caught his opponent about the waist and crushed him to the deck. When the giant woke, he wanted to know if the boat hit a rock." As the season started, The New York Times wrote: "Michigan's come-back football team, headed by Bullet Maulbetsch, is going to be an eleven to be reckoned with on the gridiron this Fall." Maulbetsch returned to his prior form, and one of the writers who had criticized him in 1915 said "the great Michigander using the same method of attack, has repeatedly broken in fragments this year the lines that he couldn’t dent in 1915."
Professional football
After the 1916 football season ended, Maulbetsch considered his options. There was a report that he had been engaged as a high school football coach (and math instructor) in Toledo, Ohio. Even more prevalent were reports that he had signed to play for a professional football team. Professional football was still in its infancy in 1917, and landing a well-known star would have been a boost to any of the budding franchises. In January 1917 newspapers reported that Maulbetsch had signed a contract to play professional football for Detroit Tigers owner, Frank Navin. Navin was supporting efforts to organize a professional football league in all the important Midwestern cities, including a Detroit franchise to play at Navin Field. As late as November 1917, newspapers reported Maulbetsch had played professional football after graduating and was offered "a handsome fee" to play with the Akron Burkhardts in November 1917. Although professional football records prior to 1920 are scarce, it appears unlikely that Maulbetsch played professional football, as press accounts show he was working as a college football coach starting in 1917.
Head football coach
Building Phillips University into a football power (1917–1920)
In June 1917, Maulbetsch announced that he had accepted a position as the football coach (and professor of chemistry) at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma. Phillips was a small, private school without a well-known athletic program. In the fall, Enid residents were "leaving their work every afternoon to watch [Maulbetsch] and his husky young Oklahoma youths work out on campus." Within a year, Maulbetsch turned Phillips into one of the strongest teams in the southwest.
Maulbetsch landed his first big recruit before leaving Ann Arbor. While playing at Michigan, Maulbetsch became friends with Doug Roby, a football player at the Michigan Military Academy, and one of the state's top recruits. Roby followed Maulbetsch to Phillips and later went on to become a member of the International Olympic Committee in the 1950s and 1960s and president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1965 to 1968. Maulbetsch's next find was future Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Owen, who later spent 23 years with the New York Giants. Maulbetsch saw Owen watching football practice from under a tree and told him: "A fellow your size ought to be out for the squad." Owen showed up the next day and, when Maulbetsch used him to illustrate blocking fundamentals, Owen threw a block into Maulbetsch that threw him five yards through the air. Maulbetsch was satisfied, and Owen had a spot on the team. Because Phillips was not part of a conference, it was not subject to any eligibility limitations, an advantage Maulbetsch was accused of exploiting. A third key player recruited by Maulbetsch was a Native American halfback named Levi, and dubbed "Big Chief" by Phillips fans.
Having recruited top talent to Enid, Maulbetsch's teams lost only one game in 1918 and 1919, including a 10–0–1 record in 1919. In 1917 and 1918, Phillips came into the limelight when they beat the Oklahoma Sooners and the Henry Kendricks College team that had swept the west without allowing another team to score.
Maulbetsch arranged a game against the Texas Longhorns in 1919, the first meeting between the schools. When the game was announced The San Antonio Light reported: "Phillips University has one of the strongest teams in the Southwest. The only team to beat them in the past two years is Oklahoma and last year Phillips beat the Sooners 13–7." The report credited Maulbetsch for securing success at an institution little known in athletics before he arrived. The University of Texas had not lost a game since 1917 when the Phillips "Haymakers" arrived in Austin, Texas on October 11, 1919. Maulbetsch's team shocked the Longhorns, holding them scoreless and winning the contest, 10–0. One Texas newspaper reported that Phillips had "whitewashed the Longhorns in their own corral."
Others in Texas concluded that Phillips’ success was the result of lax or non-existent eligibility policies. The lack of eligibility rules almost certainly did play a part in Phillips’ success. When Phillips joined the Southwest Conference in 1920, it became bound by the conference's eligibility rules, and the team was outscored 97–0 in conference play against Texas A&M (47–0), Texas (27–0), Arkansas (20–0), and Texas Christian (3–0). The Galveston Daily News noted that Maulbetsch's 1920 team could not "compare with the strong team" he surprised Texas with in 1919. At the end of the 1920 season, Phillips withdrew from the Southwest Conference, and Maulbetsch accepted a new position at Oklahoma A&M.
Head coach at Oklahoma A&M (1921–1928)
In January 1921, Maulbetsch was hired as the head coach at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He served as the coach at Oklahoma A&M from 1921 to 1928, where his teams posted a 28–37–6 (.437) record. In 1924, his team went 6–1–2 and shut out Oklahoma (6–0), Arkansas (20–0) and Kansas (3–0). Maulbetsch's Aggies also shut out Phillips that year, 13–0. After the season, attempts were made to lure him to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, but Maulbetsch said he was satisfied with his position in Stillwater.
Maulbetsch arranged a game in Ann Arbor against his alma mater to start the 1926 season. Michigan beat the Aggies, 42–3. Despite an overall record of 3–4–1, Oklahoma A&M won its first conference football championship by going 3–0–1 in games against Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents. Maulbetsch also drew attention in 1926 for his disciplinary methods. When the team lost two games due to fumbles, he ordered eight of his backfield players to carry footballs with them to classes throughout the week and instructed other team members to try knocking the balls from under their arms. The penalty for losing a ball was "a hard run around the stadium." He also ordered one of his ends to wear boxing gloves after he poked an opposing player in the eye.
The Aggies won only one game against seven defeats in 1928. In late November, the day after a 46–0 loss to Oklahoma, newspapers reported that "reliable sources" had said Maulbetsch intended to resign. Maulbetsch immediately denied the rumor, saying: "I have not resigned. I am aware that a faction here is trying to get me out, but I do not intend to throw up the sponge." In December, pressure to fire Maulbetsch grew, and one Oklahoma newspaper observed: "Coach Maulbetsch of the A. & M. football team is the object of attacks from many sides because of the rather poor showing made by his team during the past season. They are looking for a goat and just now Johnnie is cast in that role. Regardless of his past record, those who demand victory at any price and by any means whatsoever, are insisting that he be fired forthwith and a man be placed in the position who, by fair means or foul, will gather in a team that will win victories and never lose a game." Ultimately, Maulbetsch resigned at the end of May 1929 as Oklahoma A&M's coach in football, baseball, and basketball. It was announced that he would spend the remaining year of his contract on a leave of absence at half pay.
Head coach at Marshall College (1929–1930)
In July 1929, Maulbetsch was hired by Marshall College in Huntington, West Virginia to become head coach in charge of football and track. When Marshall's "Thundering Herd" got off to a 4–1 start, Maulbetsch won praise in the West Virginia press, but Marshall finished the season 1–2–1 in the second half. And in 1930, the Marshall team went 3–5–1, including a 65–0 loss to Penn State. Maulbetsch resigned as Marshall's coach in January 1931; his only comment at the time was that he had "other plans."
Later years and legacy
After retiring from football, Maulbetsch bought a drug store in Huntington, West Virginia. During World War II, Maulbetsch took a job building B-24 Liberator bombers at Ford Motor Company's famed Willow Run Plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan. From 1946 until his death, he owned an automobile sales company in Adrian, Michigan. Maulbetsch died of cancer in 1950 at his home in Ann Arbor. He was survived by his widow, Ida, a son John Maulbetsch, and a daughter Barbara. Maulbetsch had been married to Ida (maiden name Ida Elizabeth Cappon) since May 27, 1917.
Maulbetsch was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973. Since 1956, the John F. Maulbetsch Award has been given at the University of Michigan after spring practice to a freshman football candidate on the basis of desire, character, capacity for leadership and future success both on and off the football field. The award was established by Frederick C. Matthaei – a former classmate of Maulbetsch who went on to become a Regent of the University. The award has been a good indicator of future success, as past recipients include Jim Mandich (1967), Rick Leach (1976), Charles Woodson (1996), Marlin Jackson (2002), and Jake Long (2004). Maulbetsch Avenue in Ypsilanti Township is presumably named after Maulbetsch.
Head coaching record
Football
Baseball
See also
List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans
References
External links
Profile at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Athletics History
1890 births
1950 deaths
American football halfbacks
Basketball coaches from Michigan
Adrian Bulldogs football players
Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches
Michigan Wolverines football players
Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches
Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball coaches
Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball coaches
Phillips Haymakers football coaches
All-American college football players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Players of American football from Ann Arbor, Michigan
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"The 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game was a college football game between the and the , played on November 23, 1968. The game ended in a 29–29 tie after Harvard made what is considered a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie the game against a highly touted Yale squad. The significance of the moral victory for Harvard inspired the next day's The Harvard Crimson student newspaper to print the famous headline \"Harvard Beats Yale, 29–29\". In 2010, ESPN ranked it No. 9 in its list of the top ten college football ties of all time.\n\nYale came into the game with a 16-game winning streak and its quarterback, Brian Dowling, had only lost one game when he was in the starting lineup since the sixth grade. Both schools entered the game with perfect 8–0 records. It was the first time both schools met when undefeated and untied since the 1909 season.\n\nThe tie left both teams 8–0–1 for the season. The famous headline was later used as the title for Harvard Beats Yale 29-29, a 2008 documentary about the game directed by Kevin Rafferty. Actor Tommy Lee Jones, who played on the offensive line for Harvard in the game, was interviewed for the documentary.\n\nThis game stands as the final tie in the Harvard–Yale series, as subsequent rule changes have eliminated ties from college football.\n\nSee also\n 1968 NCAA University Division football season\n Harvard–Yale football rivalry\n Brian Dowling (Yale quarterback)\n Frank Champi (Harvard quarterback)\n Tommy Lee Jones (Harvard tackle)\n\nReferences\n\nYale vs. Harvard\nCollege football games\nHarvard Crimson football games\nYale Bulldogs football games\nYale vs. Harvard football game\nYale vs. Harvard football game",
"The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game, played October 29, 1921, was a college football game between Centre College and Harvard University. Centre beat Harvard 6–0, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history.\n\nThe prequel\nThe teams first met in 1920, at Harvard Stadium in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, with Harvard coming off a Rose Bowl victory and an undefeated national championship season in 1919 (the school's fourth national championship in the prior ten years). Coming into the Centre game, Harvard was also undefeated and unscored upon in the 1920 season. Meanwhile, Centre College, a tiny school of 300 students in Kentucky, had little history of success in football before their current coach, Charley Moran, and star quarterback, Bo McMillin, arrived on campus in 1917.\n\nThe Centre Praying Colonels shocked Harvard in the 1920 game simply by taking a 14–7 halftime lead. But, in the second half, Centre withered before the superior Harvard squad, and Harvard won the game 31–14. Following the game, Harvard's captain offered the game ball to Centre's quarterback Bo McMillin, but McMillin declined the ball and promised \"We'll be back next year to take it home with us.\"\n\nThe game\nAfter a scoreless half and early in the third quarter, Red Roberts told McMillin \"it's time to score, ride my hump\" and McMillin ran for a 32-yard touchdown. He dodged three of Harvard's secondary.\n\nAftermath\nBob Fisher said after the game \"In Bo McMillin Centre has a man who is probably the hardest in the country to stop.\"\n\nImmediate impact\nAll around Danville students painted the \"impossible formula\" of C6H0.\n\nThe Centre victory was a shock, but perhaps not a fluke; the team would finish the 1921 season 10–1, defeating several of the nation's powerhouses including VPI, Auburn, Arizona, and Clemson. Their only defeat was a 22–14 loss to powerful Texas A&M in the 1922 Dixie Classic (forerunner of the Cotton Bowl), in Dallas, Texas, on January 2, 1922 (the game where A&M's famous \"12th man\" was born). Bo McMillin got married in Dallas the day before the game, and the Colonels were in the midst of a grueling long distance trip from home by train, having played Arizona in San Diego, California, the week before. Up until their final game of the season the Colonels outscored their opponents by a margin of 314 to 6.\n\n\"Greatest Upset\"\nIn 1950, the Associated Press named C6H0 the greatest sports upset of the first half of the 20th century. In 2005, The New York Times called it \"arguably the upset of the century in college football.\" In 2006, ESPN named it the third-biggest upset in the 138-year history of college football.\n\nOn the 75th anniversary of C6H0, Centre challenged Harvard to a rematch. Harvard declined.\n\nSee also\nList of historically significant college football games\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nFootball Program\n\nCentre vs. Harvard\n1920s in Boston\nCollege football games\nCentre Colonels football games\nHarvard Crimson football games\nOctober 1921 sports events\n1921 in sports in Massachusetts\nSports competitions in Boston"
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