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[
"From First to Last",
"Heroine (2006)",
"When was heroine released",
"The album was released on March 21, 2006.",
"What songs were on the album?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_8360e6920a814dc2a7b81eb7fa17d25e_1 | Was the album successful? | 3 | Was the "Heroine" album successful? | From First to Last | The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.. From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine. FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last. CANNOTANSWER | It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. | From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in the Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. Formed by Matt Good, Scott Oord, and Parker Nelms in November 1999, the current line-up consists of Matt Good (lead guitar), Sonny Moore (lead vocals), Travis Richter (rhythm guitar), and Derek Bloom (drums).
The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 which they recorded with founding member and vocalist Phillip Reardon who left the band in 2004 due to personal and creative differences. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount followed in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with Moore.
Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electronic project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning, and Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. Their third self-titled studio album was released in 2008 on Suretone Records. In August 2009 the band signed to Rise Records. In late 2009, Richter left the band. Their fourth studio album, Throne to the Wolves was released on March 16, 2010. On July 28, 2010, the band entered a hiatus.
In November 2013, the band re-formed, with Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo as the new lead vocalist, as well as Richter rejoining the band. They released their fifth album Dead Trees in April 2015. Sotelo departed the band in July 2016. Former vocalist Sonny Moore rejoined the band in January 2017. In May 2020 Matt Good admitted that while there are a few tracks that could be on a new album, he's unsure if it will ever come to fruition.
History
Formation and Aesthetic (1999–2003)
First Too Last was created in November 1999 in Tampa by Matt Good, Michael Blanchard and Scott Oord. Scott played bass, while Matt took on lead vocals and was convinced by Scott to also play guitar. Parker Nelms (drums) held practice at his house, but when the band began to travel, Parker was too young to do so. He was replaced by Steve Pullman to round out the lineup that, for the next three years, would play small shows in Florida.
In 2002, Matt joined the grindcore band The Color of Violence (at that time, called Slaughter vs Skeleton, Fetus Destroyer), where he met Travis Richter (guitar), who would later join First To Last, and Joey Antillion (bass). Some time later, Greg Taylor joined as (drums), who wrote about 4 songs, in which the Aesthetic Demos were created. After hearing the demos of what would be their first EP, Phillip Reardon (lead vocals) and Derek Bloom (drums) joined the band.
In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings which featured the vocals of Reardon, Good and Richter. By the end of the year, they had changed their name to From First To Last and signed to Epitaph Records.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
After the Aesthetic EP, the band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and lead guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist and singer from California, Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Valdosta, Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's rhythm guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.
Matt Good wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was released on June 29, 2004.
From late May to mid-June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He Is Legend.
Heroine (2006)
The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.
From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.
FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."
Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Moore's departure, lineup instability and self-titled album (2007–2009)
In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also due to the fact that singing in the band was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords, resulting in serious damage which needed multiple surgeries in order to be fixed. Moore posted new recordings on his Myspace and was part of a group of a band called Sonny and the Blood Monkeys. Moore now writes, produces, and performs music under the alias/stage name Skrillex, who has won 8 Grammy Awards for his electronic dance music, and now has 7 EP's and 2 Albums.
After vocalist Moore's departure, From First to Last faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become a full-time bassist. The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.
The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go on tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.
After completing a full mix of their new material, From First to Last was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after, they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality. The band recorded this time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. At midnight on November 14, 2007, they released the first single from the album, Two as One, on their Myspace account, and they later played that song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. A video was made for the song Worlds Away which was highly publicized. Although this record was widely promoted and the band had one of its biggest years ever, they personally feel the album was a failure in that it did not portray the true band as it was meant to be portrayed. Currently, they rarely, if ever, play any songs off this album, the only occasional one being the song "Deliverance".
From First to Last began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1 with guests Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy on the Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, and Mayday Parade.
On November 29, From First to Last announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
On May 6, 2008, From First to Last released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.
On June 28, From First to Last updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full-time member.
From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We Are The Ocean.
Throne to the Wolves (2009–2010)
FFTL stated that they would be on a break from touring in late 2008. Members Travis Richter and Derek Bloom were focusing on their side project, The Color of Violence, with tours soon after and a full-length debut album, Youthanize, which was released April 7, 2009. Member Chris Lent toured as the drummer for the band I Set My Friends on Fire as well as one of the two drummers for The Color of Violence (along with Jon Syverson of the band Daughters); Lent also confirmed that he is no longer a member of FFTL and is now writing/recording with ISMFOF. FFTL began writing new songs early 2009 and started demoing new songs in March 2009 for their next album, expected to be released March 2010. A full-length demo of a song on the new album was put on their Myspace at that time, as well as the previously unheard b-side from Heroine, Save Us. A Second Full Length Demo was added on July 3, 2009, and a message to fans that they would be announcing their recording schedule and tentative label. As of August 6, 2009, the band had begun to track drums for the new record at EarthSound studios in Valdosta Georgia, with Lee Dyess.
In September 2009, Miss May I announced they would be touring with From First to Last in October 2009.
On October 1, 2009 FFTL announced that they would be touring with Greeley Estates and in October and November, and also that they had signed to Rise Records.
The band toured on the "You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour" with Alesana, The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, and Memphis May Fire in December 2009. Though recording was supposedly finished, the band was called off the road and was forced to cancel the last two weeks worth of performances – much to the dismay of fans, some of whom began to complain that the band could never finish a tour, and start rumors of a breakup – in order to go back home to Valdosta and put finishing touches on their recording. Matt Good responded to these claims and rumors
From First to Last released a new song off the album, "Going Lohan", on their MySpace page in November. The new album, Throne to the Wolves, was announced and slated for release on March 16, 2010.
In late 2009 FFTL went through yet another lineup change with Travis Richter leaving the band; no official announcement had yet been made by the band and no reason was given for his departure. Matt Good and Matt Manning have been taking over Travis's screaming role and Blake Steiner (ex-Mia Medusa guitarist), who recorded on Throne to the Wolves, is his replacement. On December 31 FFTL released the song "I'll Inoculate The World with the Virus of My Disillusionment" on their MySpace.
On Travis' departure from the band:
On January 20, 2010, From First to Last finally made an official announcement about Travis's departure from the band via Myspace.
Travis is now the lead vocalist for the progressive metal band The Human Abstract. Richter left the band in 2011 and became a dubstep producer with the group ModifiedNoise.
Beginning on March 13, 2010 From First to Last headlined the Royal Family Tour 2010, supported by Eyes Set To Kill, Confide, Black Veil Brides and Sleeping with Sirens. That tour concluded on April 10. Eyes Set to Kill dropped off the tour for other engagements a week before.
Throne to the Wolves was released March 16, 2010. The album was received well by critics and fans alike; getting favorable reviews from Alternative Press, and Absolute Punk. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, and number 45 on The Top Independent Albums. This is the band's first album not to chart the Billboard 200 since Dear Diary. After spending one week on the charts it dropped off; despite its poor debut, and first week sales of less than 4000, the album has been seen as a fresh start, and a new beginning for the band.
Starting on May 8, 2010 the band toured with Our Last Night, We Came as Romans, and A Bullet For Pretty Boy on the Welcome to the Circus tour, headlined by Asking Alexandria. The tour will end on June 9
On June 10, 2010 the band will begin playing dates through June 18 supporting A Skylit Drive on the second half of the "Go Fist Pump Yourself Tour", along with Tides of Man and Abandon All Ships. I Set My Friends on Fire were originally slated to play, but ISMFOF was forced to back out due to recording delays.
Hiatus (2010–2013)
On July 28, 2010 Matt Good announced that From First to Last was going on hiatus:
On July 29, 2010, Craig Owens posted a video on Facebook saying that Matt Good was the guitarist and keyboardist of his new band. On August 18, 2010, Owens announced account that the band is called Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The band's members include vocalist Craig Owens (Chiodos), drummer Aaron Stern (Matchbook Romance), guitarist/vocalist Nick Martin (Underminded), bassist Adam Russell (Story of the Year) and Matt Good in guitar, keyboards and vocals. Good left the band in 2012, now is a dubstep/electronica DJ with AJ Calderon in the duo Kit Fysto. D.R.U.G.S. disbanded in April 2012, as a result of the departure of lead singer Craig Owens who rejoined his former band Chiodos.
In 2011, Matt Manning and Blake Steiner formed the band Eye in the Sky. The band's members include Matt Simpson (drums), Blake Steiner (guitar) and Matt Manning (vocals and bass).
On August 20, 2013 Jon Weisberg launched his new band XO Stereo and released the first single Show And Tell with an accompanying music video. The band also features Justin Whitesel from LoveHateHero.
Reunion, introduction of Sotelo and Dead Trees (2013–2015)
In November 2013, Matt Good, Derek Bloom, Matt Manning and Travis Richter reunited as From First to Last and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of a new EP. Good said he also reached out to Sonny Moore (Skrillex) to see if he would be interested in contributing in some way. Months after exceeding its crowd-funding goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000, the band changed its plans slightly: the recording sessions proved fruitful and the band decided to release a full-length album instead of an EP, and the lineup changed significantly. Bloom was no longer a part of the reunion and the remaining members expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Spencer Sotelo of Periphery, drummer Ernie Slenkovich and third guitarist Taylor Larson. With the new lineup, From First to Last recorded and released an online stream of a new version of "Note to Self" – originally released on Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 with Moore on vocals – to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. In the autumn of 2014, the band continued on with a tour with Black Veil Brides, Set It Off, William Control and Falling in Reverse.
From First to Last released the first single, eponymously titled "Dead Trees," off their fifth studio album on November 24, 2014. Weeks later in January 2015, From First to Last announced their signing to Sumerian Records for the release of their new album. On April 23, 2015 the band released Dead Trees through Sumerian.
Departure of Sotelo, Moore's return and the future (2016–present)
On July 30, 2016, former vocalist Sonny Moore held a radio show on Beats 1 as Skrillex. The final song of the radio show, an untitled bonus track was, according to Alternative Press, reminiscent of prior From First to Last work with Moore's vocals. The article talked about the rumors being generated by a Facebook post regarding a possible reunion.
On August 1, 2016, Spencer Sotelo announced he left the band.
On January 15, 2017, the band released a new single, "Make War", featuring vocalist Sonny Moore and original drummer Derek Bloom returning to the band (although the single featured drummer Travis Barker instead of Bloom.) Their first show back with Moore and Bloom was on February 7, during an Emo Nite LA event in Los Angeles, California at music venue Echoplex. This marked the band's first live performance with Moore in ten years and Bloom since his departure in 2010. Longtime bassist Matt Manning also appeared with the band during the show, having only performed alongside Moore briefly before his initial departure from the band. Aside from debuting "Make War" live, the band played a set featuring material strictly off of Dear Diary.... Guitarist Taylor Larson was not present at the performance, and is no longer a member of the band.
In 2017, Moore stated that "Make War" was the first they wrote after reuniting. He later stated that the band plans to release more music.
In December 2017, the band debuted a new song entitled "Surrender" at Emo Nite Day in Los Angeles. The track was later released on July 23, 2018, with Bloom returning on drums.
Musical style
From First to Last has been described as post-hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, and emo.
Band members
Current
Matt Good – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (1999–2010, 2013–present), lead vocals (1999–2002, 2007–2010), rhythm guitar (1999–2002)
Travis Richter – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals, backing vocals (2002–2009, 2013–present)
Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–2010, 2013–2014, 2017–present)
Sonny Moore – lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards (2004–2007, 2017–present)
Touring and session
Alicia Simmons-Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Mikey Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Wes Borland – bass, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Matt Fleischman – bass, backing vocals (2006–2007)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (2017)
Former
Phillip Reardon – lead vocals, unclean vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2002–2004)
Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals (2014–2016)
Blake Steiner – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
Scott Oord – bass, backing vocals (1999–2002)
Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
Jon Weisberg – bass, unclean vocals (2003–2005)
Parker Nelms – drums, percussion (1999)
Steve Pullman – drums, percussion, keyboards (1999–2002)
Greg Taylor – drums, percussion (2002)
Ernie Slenkovich – drums, percussion (2014–2016)
Chris Lent – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (2006–2009)
Taylor Larson – rhythm/lead guitar (2014–2016)
Matt Manning – bass, unclean vocals (2007–2010, 2013–2017)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
Heroine (2006)
From First to Last (2008)
Throne to the Wolves (2010)
Dead Trees (2015)
Awards
Further reading
Facts
1.From First to Last was initially formed in 1999 as First too Last in high school before renaming the band From First to Last in 2002. Founding member Matt Good was lead vocalist and guitarist of First to Last from 1999 to 2002 and again as From First to Last from 2007 to 2010, in which he featured as lead vocalist/guitarist on albums, From First to Last and Throne to Wolves.
References
External links
Musical groups established in 1999
Emo musical groups from Florida
American post-hardcore musical groups
Epitaph Records artists
Owsla artists
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Rise Records artists
Sumerian Records artists
1999 establishments in the United States | false | [
"Maria Arredondo is the first album by Norwegian singer Maria Arredondo, released in Norway on March 17, 2003, with a second edition released on June 30, 2003. The album was the most successful album by Arredondo either in critics or sales. It has 12 songs with the second edition and 5 singles were released. One of the singles, \"In Love With An Angel\", a duet with Christian Ingebrigtsen, was nominated for the 2003 Norwegian Grammy Awards as 'Song Of The Year'.\n\nHistory \nAfter two years recording the songs, Arredondo signed with Universal Music Norway. The album entered the Norwegian Top 40 and Norwegian Topp 30 Norsk at #2 and spent 23 weeks on the charts. It was recorded in Sweden and Norway, and was produced by several well-known Scandinavian producers such as Jonas von Der Burg, Espen Lind, Bluefish, Jonny Sjo, Harry Sommerdahl and Bjørn Erik Pedersen. Several successful songwriters also contributed, including Christian Ingebrigtsen, Jonas von Der Burg, Silje Nergaard, Espen Lind and Harry Sommerdahl. The first single released was \"Can Let Go\". The second single, \"Just A Little Heartache\" was very successful in the radio charts. \"In Love With An Angel\" was the third single and became the first and only #1 single for Arredondo.\n\nThe album was re-released with a new song, \"Hardly Hurts At All\", which was released as a single. The last single from the album was \"A Thousand Nights\". The album went platinum and sold more than 70,000 copies.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nAlbum\n\nSingles\n\nReferences \n\n2003 debut albums\nMaria Arredondo albums\nUniversal Music Norway albums",
"Black and White is the second studio album and major label debut by British hip hop recording artist Wretch 32. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 21 August 2011 through Ministry of Sound, debuting at number four on the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of nearly 25,000 copies. The album follows his independent debut album, Wretchrospective, which was released three years earlier, in 2008. The album spawned six singles over the course of eighteen months, all of which peaked inside the UK top 50, including three top five singles, and a number one single, \"Don't Go\". The album includes collaborations with Ed Sheeran, Daley, Etta Bond and Example.\n\nSingles\n \"Traktor\" was released as the first single released from the album on 16 January 2011. It peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the third most successful single from the album. The track features vocals from L Marshall and was produced by Yogi.\n \"Unorthodox\" was released as the second single from the album on 17 April 2011. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the second most successful single from the album. The track features vocals from Example.\n \"Don't Go\" was released as the third single from the album on 14 August 2011. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the album's most successful single. The track features vocals from upcoming musician and songwriter Josh Kumra.\n \"Forgiveness\" was released as the fourth single from the album on 11 December 2011. It peaked at number 39 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the least successful single from the album. The track features vocals from Etta Bond, and was produced by Labrinth.\n \"Long Way Home\" was released as a single from the album on 14 February 2012, in promotion of the track's featuring artist, Daley. It was ineligible to chart on the UK Singles Chart, and was simply released in the form of a promotional music video.\n \"Hush Little Baby\" was released as the fifth and final single from the album on 27 May 2012. It peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart, due to little promotion. The track features vocals from singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.\n\nTrack listing \n\nNotes\n \"Forgiveness\" features uncredited vocals from Labrinth.\n\nSample credits\n \"Black and White\" samples \"Different Strokes\" by Syl Johnson\n \"Unorthodox\" samples \"Fools Gold\" by The Stone Roses.\n \"Hush Little Baby\" adapts lyrics from the lullaby \"Hush, Little Baby\".\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2011 albums\nWretch 32 albums\nMinistry of Sound albums\nAlbums produced by Labrinth"
]
|
[
"From First to Last",
"Heroine (2006)",
"When was heroine released",
"The album was released on March 21, 2006.",
"What songs were on the album?",
"I don't know.",
"Was the album successful?",
"It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000."
]
| C_8360e6920a814dc2a7b81eb7fa17d25e_1 | What band members worked on the album? | 4 | What band members worked on the "Heroine" album? | From First to Last | The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.. From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine. FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last. CANNOTANSWER | producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. | From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in the Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. Formed by Matt Good, Scott Oord, and Parker Nelms in November 1999, the current line-up consists of Matt Good (lead guitar), Sonny Moore (lead vocals), Travis Richter (rhythm guitar), and Derek Bloom (drums).
The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 which they recorded with founding member and vocalist Phillip Reardon who left the band in 2004 due to personal and creative differences. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount followed in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with Moore.
Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electronic project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning, and Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. Their third self-titled studio album was released in 2008 on Suretone Records. In August 2009 the band signed to Rise Records. In late 2009, Richter left the band. Their fourth studio album, Throne to the Wolves was released on March 16, 2010. On July 28, 2010, the band entered a hiatus.
In November 2013, the band re-formed, with Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo as the new lead vocalist, as well as Richter rejoining the band. They released their fifth album Dead Trees in April 2015. Sotelo departed the band in July 2016. Former vocalist Sonny Moore rejoined the band in January 2017. In May 2020 Matt Good admitted that while there are a few tracks that could be on a new album, he's unsure if it will ever come to fruition.
History
Formation and Aesthetic (1999–2003)
First Too Last was created in November 1999 in Tampa by Matt Good, Michael Blanchard and Scott Oord. Scott played bass, while Matt took on lead vocals and was convinced by Scott to also play guitar. Parker Nelms (drums) held practice at his house, but when the band began to travel, Parker was too young to do so. He was replaced by Steve Pullman to round out the lineup that, for the next three years, would play small shows in Florida.
In 2002, Matt joined the grindcore band The Color of Violence (at that time, called Slaughter vs Skeleton, Fetus Destroyer), where he met Travis Richter (guitar), who would later join First To Last, and Joey Antillion (bass). Some time later, Greg Taylor joined as (drums), who wrote about 4 songs, in which the Aesthetic Demos were created. After hearing the demos of what would be their first EP, Phillip Reardon (lead vocals) and Derek Bloom (drums) joined the band.
In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings which featured the vocals of Reardon, Good and Richter. By the end of the year, they had changed their name to From First To Last and signed to Epitaph Records.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
After the Aesthetic EP, the band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and lead guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist and singer from California, Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Valdosta, Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's rhythm guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.
Matt Good wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was released on June 29, 2004.
From late May to mid-June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He Is Legend.
Heroine (2006)
The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.
From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.
FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."
Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Moore's departure, lineup instability and self-titled album (2007–2009)
In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also due to the fact that singing in the band was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords, resulting in serious damage which needed multiple surgeries in order to be fixed. Moore posted new recordings on his Myspace and was part of a group of a band called Sonny and the Blood Monkeys. Moore now writes, produces, and performs music under the alias/stage name Skrillex, who has won 8 Grammy Awards for his electronic dance music, and now has 7 EP's and 2 Albums.
After vocalist Moore's departure, From First to Last faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become a full-time bassist. The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.
The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go on tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.
After completing a full mix of their new material, From First to Last was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after, they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality. The band recorded this time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. At midnight on November 14, 2007, they released the first single from the album, Two as One, on their Myspace account, and they later played that song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. A video was made for the song Worlds Away which was highly publicized. Although this record was widely promoted and the band had one of its biggest years ever, they personally feel the album was a failure in that it did not portray the true band as it was meant to be portrayed. Currently, they rarely, if ever, play any songs off this album, the only occasional one being the song "Deliverance".
From First to Last began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1 with guests Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy on the Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, and Mayday Parade.
On November 29, From First to Last announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
On May 6, 2008, From First to Last released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.
On June 28, From First to Last updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full-time member.
From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We Are The Ocean.
Throne to the Wolves (2009–2010)
FFTL stated that they would be on a break from touring in late 2008. Members Travis Richter and Derek Bloom were focusing on their side project, The Color of Violence, with tours soon after and a full-length debut album, Youthanize, which was released April 7, 2009. Member Chris Lent toured as the drummer for the band I Set My Friends on Fire as well as one of the two drummers for The Color of Violence (along with Jon Syverson of the band Daughters); Lent also confirmed that he is no longer a member of FFTL and is now writing/recording with ISMFOF. FFTL began writing new songs early 2009 and started demoing new songs in March 2009 for their next album, expected to be released March 2010. A full-length demo of a song on the new album was put on their Myspace at that time, as well as the previously unheard b-side from Heroine, Save Us. A Second Full Length Demo was added on July 3, 2009, and a message to fans that they would be announcing their recording schedule and tentative label. As of August 6, 2009, the band had begun to track drums for the new record at EarthSound studios in Valdosta Georgia, with Lee Dyess.
In September 2009, Miss May I announced they would be touring with From First to Last in October 2009.
On October 1, 2009 FFTL announced that they would be touring with Greeley Estates and in October and November, and also that they had signed to Rise Records.
The band toured on the "You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour" with Alesana, The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, and Memphis May Fire in December 2009. Though recording was supposedly finished, the band was called off the road and was forced to cancel the last two weeks worth of performances – much to the dismay of fans, some of whom began to complain that the band could never finish a tour, and start rumors of a breakup – in order to go back home to Valdosta and put finishing touches on their recording. Matt Good responded to these claims and rumors
From First to Last released a new song off the album, "Going Lohan", on their MySpace page in November. The new album, Throne to the Wolves, was announced and slated for release on March 16, 2010.
In late 2009 FFTL went through yet another lineup change with Travis Richter leaving the band; no official announcement had yet been made by the band and no reason was given for his departure. Matt Good and Matt Manning have been taking over Travis's screaming role and Blake Steiner (ex-Mia Medusa guitarist), who recorded on Throne to the Wolves, is his replacement. On December 31 FFTL released the song "I'll Inoculate The World with the Virus of My Disillusionment" on their MySpace.
On Travis' departure from the band:
On January 20, 2010, From First to Last finally made an official announcement about Travis's departure from the band via Myspace.
Travis is now the lead vocalist for the progressive metal band The Human Abstract. Richter left the band in 2011 and became a dubstep producer with the group ModifiedNoise.
Beginning on March 13, 2010 From First to Last headlined the Royal Family Tour 2010, supported by Eyes Set To Kill, Confide, Black Veil Brides and Sleeping with Sirens. That tour concluded on April 10. Eyes Set to Kill dropped off the tour for other engagements a week before.
Throne to the Wolves was released March 16, 2010. The album was received well by critics and fans alike; getting favorable reviews from Alternative Press, and Absolute Punk. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, and number 45 on The Top Independent Albums. This is the band's first album not to chart the Billboard 200 since Dear Diary. After spending one week on the charts it dropped off; despite its poor debut, and first week sales of less than 4000, the album has been seen as a fresh start, and a new beginning for the band.
Starting on May 8, 2010 the band toured with Our Last Night, We Came as Romans, and A Bullet For Pretty Boy on the Welcome to the Circus tour, headlined by Asking Alexandria. The tour will end on June 9
On June 10, 2010 the band will begin playing dates through June 18 supporting A Skylit Drive on the second half of the "Go Fist Pump Yourself Tour", along with Tides of Man and Abandon All Ships. I Set My Friends on Fire were originally slated to play, but ISMFOF was forced to back out due to recording delays.
Hiatus (2010–2013)
On July 28, 2010 Matt Good announced that From First to Last was going on hiatus:
On July 29, 2010, Craig Owens posted a video on Facebook saying that Matt Good was the guitarist and keyboardist of his new band. On August 18, 2010, Owens announced account that the band is called Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The band's members include vocalist Craig Owens (Chiodos), drummer Aaron Stern (Matchbook Romance), guitarist/vocalist Nick Martin (Underminded), bassist Adam Russell (Story of the Year) and Matt Good in guitar, keyboards and vocals. Good left the band in 2012, now is a dubstep/electronica DJ with AJ Calderon in the duo Kit Fysto. D.R.U.G.S. disbanded in April 2012, as a result of the departure of lead singer Craig Owens who rejoined his former band Chiodos.
In 2011, Matt Manning and Blake Steiner formed the band Eye in the Sky. The band's members include Matt Simpson (drums), Blake Steiner (guitar) and Matt Manning (vocals and bass).
On August 20, 2013 Jon Weisberg launched his new band XO Stereo and released the first single Show And Tell with an accompanying music video. The band also features Justin Whitesel from LoveHateHero.
Reunion, introduction of Sotelo and Dead Trees (2013–2015)
In November 2013, Matt Good, Derek Bloom, Matt Manning and Travis Richter reunited as From First to Last and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of a new EP. Good said he also reached out to Sonny Moore (Skrillex) to see if he would be interested in contributing in some way. Months after exceeding its crowd-funding goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000, the band changed its plans slightly: the recording sessions proved fruitful and the band decided to release a full-length album instead of an EP, and the lineup changed significantly. Bloom was no longer a part of the reunion and the remaining members expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Spencer Sotelo of Periphery, drummer Ernie Slenkovich and third guitarist Taylor Larson. With the new lineup, From First to Last recorded and released an online stream of a new version of "Note to Self" – originally released on Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 with Moore on vocals – to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. In the autumn of 2014, the band continued on with a tour with Black Veil Brides, Set It Off, William Control and Falling in Reverse.
From First to Last released the first single, eponymously titled "Dead Trees," off their fifth studio album on November 24, 2014. Weeks later in January 2015, From First to Last announced their signing to Sumerian Records for the release of their new album. On April 23, 2015 the band released Dead Trees through Sumerian.
Departure of Sotelo, Moore's return and the future (2016–present)
On July 30, 2016, former vocalist Sonny Moore held a radio show on Beats 1 as Skrillex. The final song of the radio show, an untitled bonus track was, according to Alternative Press, reminiscent of prior From First to Last work with Moore's vocals. The article talked about the rumors being generated by a Facebook post regarding a possible reunion.
On August 1, 2016, Spencer Sotelo announced he left the band.
On January 15, 2017, the band released a new single, "Make War", featuring vocalist Sonny Moore and original drummer Derek Bloom returning to the band (although the single featured drummer Travis Barker instead of Bloom.) Their first show back with Moore and Bloom was on February 7, during an Emo Nite LA event in Los Angeles, California at music venue Echoplex. This marked the band's first live performance with Moore in ten years and Bloom since his departure in 2010. Longtime bassist Matt Manning also appeared with the band during the show, having only performed alongside Moore briefly before his initial departure from the band. Aside from debuting "Make War" live, the band played a set featuring material strictly off of Dear Diary.... Guitarist Taylor Larson was not present at the performance, and is no longer a member of the band.
In 2017, Moore stated that "Make War" was the first they wrote after reuniting. He later stated that the band plans to release more music.
In December 2017, the band debuted a new song entitled "Surrender" at Emo Nite Day in Los Angeles. The track was later released on July 23, 2018, with Bloom returning on drums.
Musical style
From First to Last has been described as post-hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, and emo.
Band members
Current
Matt Good – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (1999–2010, 2013–present), lead vocals (1999–2002, 2007–2010), rhythm guitar (1999–2002)
Travis Richter – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals, backing vocals (2002–2009, 2013–present)
Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–2010, 2013–2014, 2017–present)
Sonny Moore – lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards (2004–2007, 2017–present)
Touring and session
Alicia Simmons-Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Mikey Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Wes Borland – bass, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Matt Fleischman – bass, backing vocals (2006–2007)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (2017)
Former
Phillip Reardon – lead vocals, unclean vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2002–2004)
Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals (2014–2016)
Blake Steiner – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
Scott Oord – bass, backing vocals (1999–2002)
Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
Jon Weisberg – bass, unclean vocals (2003–2005)
Parker Nelms – drums, percussion (1999)
Steve Pullman – drums, percussion, keyboards (1999–2002)
Greg Taylor – drums, percussion (2002)
Ernie Slenkovich – drums, percussion (2014–2016)
Chris Lent – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (2006–2009)
Taylor Larson – rhythm/lead guitar (2014–2016)
Matt Manning – bass, unclean vocals (2007–2010, 2013–2017)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
Heroine (2006)
From First to Last (2008)
Throne to the Wolves (2010)
Dead Trees (2015)
Awards
Further reading
Facts
1.From First to Last was initially formed in 1999 as First too Last in high school before renaming the band From First to Last in 2002. Founding member Matt Good was lead vocalist and guitarist of First to Last from 1999 to 2002 and again as From First to Last from 2007 to 2010, in which he featured as lead vocalist/guitarist on albums, From First to Last and Throne to Wolves.
References
External links
Musical groups established in 1999
Emo musical groups from Florida
American post-hardcore musical groups
Epitaph Records artists
Owsla artists
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Rise Records artists
Sumerian Records artists
1999 establishments in the United States | true | [
"Darna was a Spanish power metal band from Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. Formed in 1998, they released two successful albums before the drummer's departure in 2004 led the remaining band members to decide to disband the group and focus on separate projects.\n\nHistory\n\nEarly days and Darna (1998-2001)\nOn September, 1998, Dani and Ruth began to develop a musical project and invited Álvaro Jardón (bass) and Rafael Yugueros (drums) to join them, they accepted and started working on the songs that had been composed and the ones that were still on writing. Silvia was the last member to join the band and with her guitar gave power and a solid rhythmic base. They entered the studio on the middle of 2000 and started the recording of what would become their debut album with the songs composed, most of them contained a conceptual story. The band made their first live presentation in December 2000, on the anniversary celebration of the heavy metal radio program Morgana. Self-titled debut album, Darna was released on June, 2002 after a year of recording. An intense promotion generated great anticipation to see this new band.\n\nII and breakup (2002-2004)\nBassist Álvaro Jardón, left the group on 2002 to form part of power metal band WarCry, where he worked on their second and third studio albums and left at the end of 2003 stating that was all due to personal and musical issues, hoping to return to music on upcoming years. In September 2002 Darna made the official presentation of Jardón's replacement, Fonso a well-known Asturian bassist. Then started their tour to support the debut album, playing on many concerts throughout Spain, where they received very good critics, and showed that Darna was mostly a 'live band'. The band's last concert for the tour was in June, 2003, at that time they started the recording process of what would be their second studio album. The album was scheduled to be released in September 2003, but due to technical problems on the recording sessions they couldn't release it until December, 2003. II was their second album filled with strong rhythms and melodies, where they received even better critics than with the debut album. Second studio album had a great reception on the Spanish heavy metal, but on early 2004 Rafael Yugueros decided to leave the band to form part of DarkSun, where he worked on their second and third studio albums, before joining WarCry on September, 2007 to replace former drummer Alberto Ardines. All the members agreed on breaking up the band and continue on their own. On the middle of 2004 Darna was officially disbanded and all of the members started new projects.\n\nDiscography\nDarna (2001)\nII (2003)\n\nMembers\n\nLast line-up\nRuth Suárez (Vocals)\nSilvia (Guitars)\nDani Sevillano (Guitars)\n\nPast members\nRafael Yugueros (Drums)\nÁlvaro Jardón (Bass)\n\nSee also\nWarCry\n\nExternal links\nDarna's official website\nOfficial Myspace profile\n\nSpanish power metal musical groups\nRock en Español music groups\nMusical groups established in 1998\nMusical groups disestablished in 2004\nAsturian music",
"DarkSun is a Spanish power metal band from Asturias, Spain. Formed in 2002 after the split of Nörthwind, the band has since released six studio albums. DarkSun has often cited Blind Guardian, Helloween, Angra, and Rage as their biggest and most important influences.\n\nHistory\n\nEl Legado (2002-2005) \nAfter the split of power metal band Nörthwind, three of the members formed heavy metal band Vendaval. The rest of the members, guitarists Tino Hevia and Daniel Gonzalez, and keyboardist Helena Pinto, formed DarkSun. The band recruited bassist Pedro Junquera and drummer Daniel Cabal, who had also worked with Relative Silence along with Helena Pinto. They decided to record an album after recruiting all the members to have a stable lineup.\n\nIn the middle of 2003, DarkSun went to Germany to record what would become their debut album. It was recorded at VPS Studios, produced by Ingo Cjavkoski (better known as Rage's producer), and mixed at House of Music Studios by Achim Köhler (mixer who had worked for bands like Primal Fear and Sinner). El Legado was the debut album by the band, released in July 2004. Professional reviews were incredibly good, stating that El Legado, was \"one of the best Spanish metal albums of the year [...] from an excellent band\". DarkSun toured Spain for a whole year to support the album, and had \"tickets-sold-out\" posters in most of the venues. The critics and live-reviews about this new band were incredibly good. In the middle of the tour, drummer Daniel Cabal left the band. The rest of the members had to cancel some concerts before introducing Cabal's replacement, drummer Rafael Yugueros who was at that time known for his work on power metal band Darna, on their first and second album and left after the band's breakup in 2004. Keyboardist Helena Pinto left the band at the end of 2004.\n\nEl Lado Oscuro (2005-2007)\nWhen the tour on support of El Legado ended, DarkSun entered the studios once again to record their new album. On the middle of the composition, arrangements, and production of the new album, the band hired Pinto's replacement, Víctor Fernández, who performed keyboard duties. This album was recorded in Germany, with Ingo Cjavkoski in the production. This time the band had Dennis Ward on mixings. (who was better known for his work with Angra), and Lars Ratz (from Metalium) assisted on the vocals production. Once again the reviews were as good as they could possibly be, like \"...it's a varied work, where power and heavy metal alternate and mix\", and \"El Lado Oscuro is a really good power metal album\". Peavy Wagner (of Rage fame) performed vocals on a song, which was released as a bonus track on the album, entitled \"Prisoners of Fate\".\n\nThe band released an English version of El Lado Oscuro, titled The Dark Side and was released in September 2007 through FC Metal Recordings. The critics were as good as the Spanish version, like \"the album can be defined with one word: brilliant!\". The band collaborated on Rage's album Speak of the Dead, with a Spanish version of the song \"Full Moon\" entitled \"La Luna Reine,\" which appeared as a bonus track. Just after the release of The Dark Side drummer Rafael Yugueros left DarkSun to form part of power metal band WarCry replacing former drummer Alberto Ardines. Yugueros had already worked with WarCry on their 1997's demo Demon 97. The band re-recruited Daniel Cabal who worked on what would become the band's new album. Keyboardist Víctor Fernández left the band on the summer of 2007, being replaced by Ana Fernandes, who had previously played for Spanish band Stormrider. On the summer of 2008 DarkSun announced that Cabal was leaving the band, all these occurred in a professional and friendly way. On the same announcement the band presented new drummer Jose Ojeda, who had performed drums on Spanish bands like Rivendel Lords, Killian, among others.\n\nLibera Me (2007-present)\nDarkSun's third album (not including the English version, The Dark Side) was produced by lead vocalist Daniel González. David Figueiras has performed the lead guitars, now that González has left the guitars and centred mainly on vocal duties. The drums were played by former member Dani Cabal, who played on the band's first album El Legado and returned to the group from 2007 to 2008, being replaced by current drummer José Ojeda. The keyboards were played by Ana Fernandes, who replaced Víctor Fernández after leaving on the summer of 2007. The album was titled Libera Me, released on September 29, 2008. \"Miedo\" was the first single for the album and also the new videoclip of the band, which was directed and produced by Jacinto Hinojal. The album contained special features, like the video clip, pictures of the making off. The cover was created by Daniel Alonso, who has also worked for bands like WarCry, Hard Spirit, among others.\n\nMembers\n\nCurrent \nDani González - guitars (2002-2008), lead vocals (2002-present)\nTino Hevia - guitars (2002-present)\nDavid Figueiras - guitars (2008-present)\nAdrian Huelga - bass (2009-present)\nDaniel Cabal - drums (2002-2005, 2008, 2010-present)\n\nPast \nPedro Junquera - bass (2002-2009)\nHelena Pinto - keyboards (2002-2004)\nRafael Yugueros - drums (2005-2007)\nVíctor Fernández - keyboards (2005-2007)\nAna Fernández - keyboards (2007-2009)\nJose Ojeda - drums (2008-2010)\n\nTimeline\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n El Legado (2004)\n El Lado Oscuro (2006)\n The Dark Side (2007)\n Libera Me (2008)\n Tocar El Sol (2010)\n Memento Mori (2012)\n Crónicas de Araván (2016)\n Chronicles of Aravan (2016)\n\nSee also \n WarCry\n Darna\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n DarkSun — official website\n DarkSun at MySpace\n\nSpanish power metal musical groups\nMusical groups established in 2002\nAsturian music\nSpanish symphonic metal musical groups\n2002 establishments in Spain\nMusical quintets"
]
|
[
"From First to Last",
"Heroine (2006)",
"When was heroine released",
"The album was released on March 21, 2006.",
"What songs were on the album?",
"I don't know.",
"Was the album successful?",
"It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000.",
"What band members worked on the album?",
"producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album."
]
| C_8360e6920a814dc2a7b81eb7fa17d25e_1 | What other band members were included in the production? | 5 | What other band members were included in the production besides Wes Borland? | From First to Last | The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.. From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine. FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last. CANNOTANSWER | The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties | From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in the Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. Formed by Matt Good, Scott Oord, and Parker Nelms in November 1999, the current line-up consists of Matt Good (lead guitar), Sonny Moore (lead vocals), Travis Richter (rhythm guitar), and Derek Bloom (drums).
The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 which they recorded with founding member and vocalist Phillip Reardon who left the band in 2004 due to personal and creative differences. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount followed in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with Moore.
Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electronic project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning, and Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. Their third self-titled studio album was released in 2008 on Suretone Records. In August 2009 the band signed to Rise Records. In late 2009, Richter left the band. Their fourth studio album, Throne to the Wolves was released on March 16, 2010. On July 28, 2010, the band entered a hiatus.
In November 2013, the band re-formed, with Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo as the new lead vocalist, as well as Richter rejoining the band. They released their fifth album Dead Trees in April 2015. Sotelo departed the band in July 2016. Former vocalist Sonny Moore rejoined the band in January 2017. In May 2020 Matt Good admitted that while there are a few tracks that could be on a new album, he's unsure if it will ever come to fruition.
History
Formation and Aesthetic (1999–2003)
First Too Last was created in November 1999 in Tampa by Matt Good, Michael Blanchard and Scott Oord. Scott played bass, while Matt took on lead vocals and was convinced by Scott to also play guitar. Parker Nelms (drums) held practice at his house, but when the band began to travel, Parker was too young to do so. He was replaced by Steve Pullman to round out the lineup that, for the next three years, would play small shows in Florida.
In 2002, Matt joined the grindcore band The Color of Violence (at that time, called Slaughter vs Skeleton, Fetus Destroyer), where he met Travis Richter (guitar), who would later join First To Last, and Joey Antillion (bass). Some time later, Greg Taylor joined as (drums), who wrote about 4 songs, in which the Aesthetic Demos were created. After hearing the demos of what would be their first EP, Phillip Reardon (lead vocals) and Derek Bloom (drums) joined the band.
In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings which featured the vocals of Reardon, Good and Richter. By the end of the year, they had changed their name to From First To Last and signed to Epitaph Records.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
After the Aesthetic EP, the band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and lead guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist and singer from California, Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Valdosta, Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's rhythm guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.
Matt Good wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was released on June 29, 2004.
From late May to mid-June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He Is Legend.
Heroine (2006)
The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.
From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.
FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."
Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Moore's departure, lineup instability and self-titled album (2007–2009)
In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also due to the fact that singing in the band was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords, resulting in serious damage which needed multiple surgeries in order to be fixed. Moore posted new recordings on his Myspace and was part of a group of a band called Sonny and the Blood Monkeys. Moore now writes, produces, and performs music under the alias/stage name Skrillex, who has won 8 Grammy Awards for his electronic dance music, and now has 7 EP's and 2 Albums.
After vocalist Moore's departure, From First to Last faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become a full-time bassist. The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.
The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go on tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.
After completing a full mix of their new material, From First to Last was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after, they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality. The band recorded this time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. At midnight on November 14, 2007, they released the first single from the album, Two as One, on their Myspace account, and they later played that song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. A video was made for the song Worlds Away which was highly publicized. Although this record was widely promoted and the band had one of its biggest years ever, they personally feel the album was a failure in that it did not portray the true band as it was meant to be portrayed. Currently, they rarely, if ever, play any songs off this album, the only occasional one being the song "Deliverance".
From First to Last began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1 with guests Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy on the Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, and Mayday Parade.
On November 29, From First to Last announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
On May 6, 2008, From First to Last released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.
On June 28, From First to Last updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full-time member.
From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We Are The Ocean.
Throne to the Wolves (2009–2010)
FFTL stated that they would be on a break from touring in late 2008. Members Travis Richter and Derek Bloom were focusing on their side project, The Color of Violence, with tours soon after and a full-length debut album, Youthanize, which was released April 7, 2009. Member Chris Lent toured as the drummer for the band I Set My Friends on Fire as well as one of the two drummers for The Color of Violence (along with Jon Syverson of the band Daughters); Lent also confirmed that he is no longer a member of FFTL and is now writing/recording with ISMFOF. FFTL began writing new songs early 2009 and started demoing new songs in March 2009 for their next album, expected to be released March 2010. A full-length demo of a song on the new album was put on their Myspace at that time, as well as the previously unheard b-side from Heroine, Save Us. A Second Full Length Demo was added on July 3, 2009, and a message to fans that they would be announcing their recording schedule and tentative label. As of August 6, 2009, the band had begun to track drums for the new record at EarthSound studios in Valdosta Georgia, with Lee Dyess.
In September 2009, Miss May I announced they would be touring with From First to Last in October 2009.
On October 1, 2009 FFTL announced that they would be touring with Greeley Estates and in October and November, and also that they had signed to Rise Records.
The band toured on the "You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour" with Alesana, The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, and Memphis May Fire in December 2009. Though recording was supposedly finished, the band was called off the road and was forced to cancel the last two weeks worth of performances – much to the dismay of fans, some of whom began to complain that the band could never finish a tour, and start rumors of a breakup – in order to go back home to Valdosta and put finishing touches on their recording. Matt Good responded to these claims and rumors
From First to Last released a new song off the album, "Going Lohan", on their MySpace page in November. The new album, Throne to the Wolves, was announced and slated for release on March 16, 2010.
In late 2009 FFTL went through yet another lineup change with Travis Richter leaving the band; no official announcement had yet been made by the band and no reason was given for his departure. Matt Good and Matt Manning have been taking over Travis's screaming role and Blake Steiner (ex-Mia Medusa guitarist), who recorded on Throne to the Wolves, is his replacement. On December 31 FFTL released the song "I'll Inoculate The World with the Virus of My Disillusionment" on their MySpace.
On Travis' departure from the band:
On January 20, 2010, From First to Last finally made an official announcement about Travis's departure from the band via Myspace.
Travis is now the lead vocalist for the progressive metal band The Human Abstract. Richter left the band in 2011 and became a dubstep producer with the group ModifiedNoise.
Beginning on March 13, 2010 From First to Last headlined the Royal Family Tour 2010, supported by Eyes Set To Kill, Confide, Black Veil Brides and Sleeping with Sirens. That tour concluded on April 10. Eyes Set to Kill dropped off the tour for other engagements a week before.
Throne to the Wolves was released March 16, 2010. The album was received well by critics and fans alike; getting favorable reviews from Alternative Press, and Absolute Punk. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, and number 45 on The Top Independent Albums. This is the band's first album not to chart the Billboard 200 since Dear Diary. After spending one week on the charts it dropped off; despite its poor debut, and first week sales of less than 4000, the album has been seen as a fresh start, and a new beginning for the band.
Starting on May 8, 2010 the band toured with Our Last Night, We Came as Romans, and A Bullet For Pretty Boy on the Welcome to the Circus tour, headlined by Asking Alexandria. The tour will end on June 9
On June 10, 2010 the band will begin playing dates through June 18 supporting A Skylit Drive on the second half of the "Go Fist Pump Yourself Tour", along with Tides of Man and Abandon All Ships. I Set My Friends on Fire were originally slated to play, but ISMFOF was forced to back out due to recording delays.
Hiatus (2010–2013)
On July 28, 2010 Matt Good announced that From First to Last was going on hiatus:
On July 29, 2010, Craig Owens posted a video on Facebook saying that Matt Good was the guitarist and keyboardist of his new band. On August 18, 2010, Owens announced account that the band is called Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The band's members include vocalist Craig Owens (Chiodos), drummer Aaron Stern (Matchbook Romance), guitarist/vocalist Nick Martin (Underminded), bassist Adam Russell (Story of the Year) and Matt Good in guitar, keyboards and vocals. Good left the band in 2012, now is a dubstep/electronica DJ with AJ Calderon in the duo Kit Fysto. D.R.U.G.S. disbanded in April 2012, as a result of the departure of lead singer Craig Owens who rejoined his former band Chiodos.
In 2011, Matt Manning and Blake Steiner formed the band Eye in the Sky. The band's members include Matt Simpson (drums), Blake Steiner (guitar) and Matt Manning (vocals and bass).
On August 20, 2013 Jon Weisberg launched his new band XO Stereo and released the first single Show And Tell with an accompanying music video. The band also features Justin Whitesel from LoveHateHero.
Reunion, introduction of Sotelo and Dead Trees (2013–2015)
In November 2013, Matt Good, Derek Bloom, Matt Manning and Travis Richter reunited as From First to Last and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of a new EP. Good said he also reached out to Sonny Moore (Skrillex) to see if he would be interested in contributing in some way. Months after exceeding its crowd-funding goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000, the band changed its plans slightly: the recording sessions proved fruitful and the band decided to release a full-length album instead of an EP, and the lineup changed significantly. Bloom was no longer a part of the reunion and the remaining members expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Spencer Sotelo of Periphery, drummer Ernie Slenkovich and third guitarist Taylor Larson. With the new lineup, From First to Last recorded and released an online stream of a new version of "Note to Self" – originally released on Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 with Moore on vocals – to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. In the autumn of 2014, the band continued on with a tour with Black Veil Brides, Set It Off, William Control and Falling in Reverse.
From First to Last released the first single, eponymously titled "Dead Trees," off their fifth studio album on November 24, 2014. Weeks later in January 2015, From First to Last announced their signing to Sumerian Records for the release of their new album. On April 23, 2015 the band released Dead Trees through Sumerian.
Departure of Sotelo, Moore's return and the future (2016–present)
On July 30, 2016, former vocalist Sonny Moore held a radio show on Beats 1 as Skrillex. The final song of the radio show, an untitled bonus track was, according to Alternative Press, reminiscent of prior From First to Last work with Moore's vocals. The article talked about the rumors being generated by a Facebook post regarding a possible reunion.
On August 1, 2016, Spencer Sotelo announced he left the band.
On January 15, 2017, the band released a new single, "Make War", featuring vocalist Sonny Moore and original drummer Derek Bloom returning to the band (although the single featured drummer Travis Barker instead of Bloom.) Their first show back with Moore and Bloom was on February 7, during an Emo Nite LA event in Los Angeles, California at music venue Echoplex. This marked the band's first live performance with Moore in ten years and Bloom since his departure in 2010. Longtime bassist Matt Manning also appeared with the band during the show, having only performed alongside Moore briefly before his initial departure from the band. Aside from debuting "Make War" live, the band played a set featuring material strictly off of Dear Diary.... Guitarist Taylor Larson was not present at the performance, and is no longer a member of the band.
In 2017, Moore stated that "Make War" was the first they wrote after reuniting. He later stated that the band plans to release more music.
In December 2017, the band debuted a new song entitled "Surrender" at Emo Nite Day in Los Angeles. The track was later released on July 23, 2018, with Bloom returning on drums.
Musical style
From First to Last has been described as post-hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, and emo.
Band members
Current
Matt Good – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (1999–2010, 2013–present), lead vocals (1999–2002, 2007–2010), rhythm guitar (1999–2002)
Travis Richter – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals, backing vocals (2002–2009, 2013–present)
Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–2010, 2013–2014, 2017–present)
Sonny Moore – lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards (2004–2007, 2017–present)
Touring and session
Alicia Simmons-Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Mikey Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Wes Borland – bass, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Matt Fleischman – bass, backing vocals (2006–2007)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (2017)
Former
Phillip Reardon – lead vocals, unclean vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2002–2004)
Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals (2014–2016)
Blake Steiner – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
Scott Oord – bass, backing vocals (1999–2002)
Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
Jon Weisberg – bass, unclean vocals (2003–2005)
Parker Nelms – drums, percussion (1999)
Steve Pullman – drums, percussion, keyboards (1999–2002)
Greg Taylor – drums, percussion (2002)
Ernie Slenkovich – drums, percussion (2014–2016)
Chris Lent – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (2006–2009)
Taylor Larson – rhythm/lead guitar (2014–2016)
Matt Manning – bass, unclean vocals (2007–2010, 2013–2017)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
Heroine (2006)
From First to Last (2008)
Throne to the Wolves (2010)
Dead Trees (2015)
Awards
Further reading
Facts
1.From First to Last was initially formed in 1999 as First too Last in high school before renaming the band From First to Last in 2002. Founding member Matt Good was lead vocalist and guitarist of First to Last from 1999 to 2002 and again as From First to Last from 2007 to 2010, in which he featured as lead vocalist/guitarist on albums, From First to Last and Throne to Wolves.
References
External links
Musical groups established in 1999
Emo musical groups from Florida
American post-hardcore musical groups
Epitaph Records artists
Owsla artists
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Rise Records artists
Sumerian Records artists
1999 establishments in the United States | true | [
"Heat Fetish is the fourth and final studio album released by American hardcore band The Bled. The album is their first release through Rise Records after parting ways with Vagrant Records in 2009. Heat Fetish was released on March 9, 2010.\n\nBackground\nFollowing the tours in support of The Bled's 2007 studio album, Silent Treatment, the band announced that they would take a break from touring. Several members found themselves in debt after this choice, which forced members to take day jobs or temporarily join other bands. Ultimately, founding members Ross Ott and Mike Pedicone, in addition to bassist Darren Simoes who joined the band in 2004, chose to leave The Bled leaving only vocalist James Muñoz and guitarist Jeremy Talley. Muñoz and Talley wanted to \"rock by any means necessary,\" and continue releasing music as The Bled. The former members were replaced by guitarist Robbie Burbidge, bassist Brad Murray and drummer Josh Skibar.\n\nPrior to joining the band, Burbidge, Murray and Skibar were fans of The Bled. The new members brought an outside perspective of what fans like about the band to the writing process.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nThe Bled\n James Muñoz – vocals\n Robbie Burbidge – guitar\n Brad Murray – bass guitar\n Josh Skibar – drums\n Jeremy Ray Talley – guitar\n\nProduction\n Fernando \"Nando\" Rivas – engineer, mixer, mastering\n\nReferences\n\nThe Bled albums\nRise Records albums\n2010 albums",
"When We Were Beautiful, also known as Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful, is a 2009 feature documentary of the American rock band Bon Jovi, marking the band's 25th year.\n\nPremiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival as a work in progress production, the film documents Bon Jovi's Lost Highway Tour in 2007 and includes interviews with band members. The film is directed by Phil Griffin and produced by Jon Kamen, Jack Rovner and Justin Wilkes. The production company for the release is Radical Media.\n\nProduction\nPhil Griffin stated that “throughout the process of working with Bon Jovi, I was amazed at the candor and humility Jon and his band showed me. The result is not a neatly wrapped up bundle of staged interviews and musical interludes, but rather a series of open and sometimes difficult conversations, explored against a backdrop of music spanning 25 years. It is a film about the peace of Tico, the complexity of Richie, the drive of Jon and the brutal honesty of Dave. It is their willingness to share their stories that gives us what I hope is a very human story—that humanity is what I believe has seen this band stand the test of time.”\n\nRelease\nThe film premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival on April 29, 2009. Jon Bon Jovi was present at the premiere. The film explored the band's 25-year career as well as looking at their live show on their 2008 Lost Highway tours. The documentary is premiering on SHOWtime October 24 in its entirety, and an edited version will be released as a DVD with certain copies of the band's 11th studio album, The Circle, released in the US on November 10 and the edited version is also included on the Live at Madison Square Garden Blu-ray.\n\nA book of the same name as the film was also released in hardcover form on November 3, 2009 and in paperback form on November 2, 2010.\n\nWhen We Were Beautiful the single was also released.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Information on Tribeca Film\n\n2009 films\nRockumentaries\nDocumentary films about music and musicians\nAmerican films\nEnglish-language films\nBon Jovi"
]
|
[
"From First to Last",
"Heroine (2006)",
"When was heroine released",
"The album was released on March 21, 2006.",
"What songs were on the album?",
"I don't know.",
"Was the album successful?",
"It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000.",
"What band members worked on the album?",
"producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album.",
"What other band members were included in the production?",
"The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties"
]
| C_8360e6920a814dc2a7b81eb7fa17d25e_1 | Did they perform any shows? | 6 | Did From First to Last perform any shows? | From First to Last | The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.. From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine. FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last. CANNOTANSWER | The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. | From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in the Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. Formed by Matt Good, Scott Oord, and Parker Nelms in November 1999, the current line-up consists of Matt Good (lead guitar), Sonny Moore (lead vocals), Travis Richter (rhythm guitar), and Derek Bloom (drums).
The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 which they recorded with founding member and vocalist Phillip Reardon who left the band in 2004 due to personal and creative differences. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount followed in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with Moore.
Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electronic project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning, and Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. Their third self-titled studio album was released in 2008 on Suretone Records. In August 2009 the band signed to Rise Records. In late 2009, Richter left the band. Their fourth studio album, Throne to the Wolves was released on March 16, 2010. On July 28, 2010, the band entered a hiatus.
In November 2013, the band re-formed, with Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo as the new lead vocalist, as well as Richter rejoining the band. They released their fifth album Dead Trees in April 2015. Sotelo departed the band in July 2016. Former vocalist Sonny Moore rejoined the band in January 2017. In May 2020 Matt Good admitted that while there are a few tracks that could be on a new album, he's unsure if it will ever come to fruition.
History
Formation and Aesthetic (1999–2003)
First Too Last was created in November 1999 in Tampa by Matt Good, Michael Blanchard and Scott Oord. Scott played bass, while Matt took on lead vocals and was convinced by Scott to also play guitar. Parker Nelms (drums) held practice at his house, but when the band began to travel, Parker was too young to do so. He was replaced by Steve Pullman to round out the lineup that, for the next three years, would play small shows in Florida.
In 2002, Matt joined the grindcore band The Color of Violence (at that time, called Slaughter vs Skeleton, Fetus Destroyer), where he met Travis Richter (guitar), who would later join First To Last, and Joey Antillion (bass). Some time later, Greg Taylor joined as (drums), who wrote about 4 songs, in which the Aesthetic Demos were created. After hearing the demos of what would be their first EP, Phillip Reardon (lead vocals) and Derek Bloom (drums) joined the band.
In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings which featured the vocals of Reardon, Good and Richter. By the end of the year, they had changed their name to From First To Last and signed to Epitaph Records.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
After the Aesthetic EP, the band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and lead guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist and singer from California, Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Valdosta, Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's rhythm guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.
Matt Good wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was released on June 29, 2004.
From late May to mid-June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He Is Legend.
Heroine (2006)
The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.
From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.
FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."
Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Moore's departure, lineup instability and self-titled album (2007–2009)
In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also due to the fact that singing in the band was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords, resulting in serious damage which needed multiple surgeries in order to be fixed. Moore posted new recordings on his Myspace and was part of a group of a band called Sonny and the Blood Monkeys. Moore now writes, produces, and performs music under the alias/stage name Skrillex, who has won 8 Grammy Awards for his electronic dance music, and now has 7 EP's and 2 Albums.
After vocalist Moore's departure, From First to Last faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become a full-time bassist. The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.
The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go on tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.
After completing a full mix of their new material, From First to Last was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after, they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality. The band recorded this time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. At midnight on November 14, 2007, they released the first single from the album, Two as One, on their Myspace account, and they later played that song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. A video was made for the song Worlds Away which was highly publicized. Although this record was widely promoted and the band had one of its biggest years ever, they personally feel the album was a failure in that it did not portray the true band as it was meant to be portrayed. Currently, they rarely, if ever, play any songs off this album, the only occasional one being the song "Deliverance".
From First to Last began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1 with guests Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy on the Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, and Mayday Parade.
On November 29, From First to Last announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
On May 6, 2008, From First to Last released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.
On June 28, From First to Last updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full-time member.
From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We Are The Ocean.
Throne to the Wolves (2009–2010)
FFTL stated that they would be on a break from touring in late 2008. Members Travis Richter and Derek Bloom were focusing on their side project, The Color of Violence, with tours soon after and a full-length debut album, Youthanize, which was released April 7, 2009. Member Chris Lent toured as the drummer for the band I Set My Friends on Fire as well as one of the two drummers for The Color of Violence (along with Jon Syverson of the band Daughters); Lent also confirmed that he is no longer a member of FFTL and is now writing/recording with ISMFOF. FFTL began writing new songs early 2009 and started demoing new songs in March 2009 for their next album, expected to be released March 2010. A full-length demo of a song on the new album was put on their Myspace at that time, as well as the previously unheard b-side from Heroine, Save Us. A Second Full Length Demo was added on July 3, 2009, and a message to fans that they would be announcing their recording schedule and tentative label. As of August 6, 2009, the band had begun to track drums for the new record at EarthSound studios in Valdosta Georgia, with Lee Dyess.
In September 2009, Miss May I announced they would be touring with From First to Last in October 2009.
On October 1, 2009 FFTL announced that they would be touring with Greeley Estates and in October and November, and also that they had signed to Rise Records.
The band toured on the "You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour" with Alesana, The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, and Memphis May Fire in December 2009. Though recording was supposedly finished, the band was called off the road and was forced to cancel the last two weeks worth of performances – much to the dismay of fans, some of whom began to complain that the band could never finish a tour, and start rumors of a breakup – in order to go back home to Valdosta and put finishing touches on their recording. Matt Good responded to these claims and rumors
From First to Last released a new song off the album, "Going Lohan", on their MySpace page in November. The new album, Throne to the Wolves, was announced and slated for release on March 16, 2010.
In late 2009 FFTL went through yet another lineup change with Travis Richter leaving the band; no official announcement had yet been made by the band and no reason was given for his departure. Matt Good and Matt Manning have been taking over Travis's screaming role and Blake Steiner (ex-Mia Medusa guitarist), who recorded on Throne to the Wolves, is his replacement. On December 31 FFTL released the song "I'll Inoculate The World with the Virus of My Disillusionment" on their MySpace.
On Travis' departure from the band:
On January 20, 2010, From First to Last finally made an official announcement about Travis's departure from the band via Myspace.
Travis is now the lead vocalist for the progressive metal band The Human Abstract. Richter left the band in 2011 and became a dubstep producer with the group ModifiedNoise.
Beginning on March 13, 2010 From First to Last headlined the Royal Family Tour 2010, supported by Eyes Set To Kill, Confide, Black Veil Brides and Sleeping with Sirens. That tour concluded on April 10. Eyes Set to Kill dropped off the tour for other engagements a week before.
Throne to the Wolves was released March 16, 2010. The album was received well by critics and fans alike; getting favorable reviews from Alternative Press, and Absolute Punk. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, and number 45 on The Top Independent Albums. This is the band's first album not to chart the Billboard 200 since Dear Diary. After spending one week on the charts it dropped off; despite its poor debut, and first week sales of less than 4000, the album has been seen as a fresh start, and a new beginning for the band.
Starting on May 8, 2010 the band toured with Our Last Night, We Came as Romans, and A Bullet For Pretty Boy on the Welcome to the Circus tour, headlined by Asking Alexandria. The tour will end on June 9
On June 10, 2010 the band will begin playing dates through June 18 supporting A Skylit Drive on the second half of the "Go Fist Pump Yourself Tour", along with Tides of Man and Abandon All Ships. I Set My Friends on Fire were originally slated to play, but ISMFOF was forced to back out due to recording delays.
Hiatus (2010–2013)
On July 28, 2010 Matt Good announced that From First to Last was going on hiatus:
On July 29, 2010, Craig Owens posted a video on Facebook saying that Matt Good was the guitarist and keyboardist of his new band. On August 18, 2010, Owens announced account that the band is called Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The band's members include vocalist Craig Owens (Chiodos), drummer Aaron Stern (Matchbook Romance), guitarist/vocalist Nick Martin (Underminded), bassist Adam Russell (Story of the Year) and Matt Good in guitar, keyboards and vocals. Good left the band in 2012, now is a dubstep/electronica DJ with AJ Calderon in the duo Kit Fysto. D.R.U.G.S. disbanded in April 2012, as a result of the departure of lead singer Craig Owens who rejoined his former band Chiodos.
In 2011, Matt Manning and Blake Steiner formed the band Eye in the Sky. The band's members include Matt Simpson (drums), Blake Steiner (guitar) and Matt Manning (vocals and bass).
On August 20, 2013 Jon Weisberg launched his new band XO Stereo and released the first single Show And Tell with an accompanying music video. The band also features Justin Whitesel from LoveHateHero.
Reunion, introduction of Sotelo and Dead Trees (2013–2015)
In November 2013, Matt Good, Derek Bloom, Matt Manning and Travis Richter reunited as From First to Last and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of a new EP. Good said he also reached out to Sonny Moore (Skrillex) to see if he would be interested in contributing in some way. Months after exceeding its crowd-funding goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000, the band changed its plans slightly: the recording sessions proved fruitful and the band decided to release a full-length album instead of an EP, and the lineup changed significantly. Bloom was no longer a part of the reunion and the remaining members expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Spencer Sotelo of Periphery, drummer Ernie Slenkovich and third guitarist Taylor Larson. With the new lineup, From First to Last recorded and released an online stream of a new version of "Note to Self" – originally released on Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 with Moore on vocals – to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. In the autumn of 2014, the band continued on with a tour with Black Veil Brides, Set It Off, William Control and Falling in Reverse.
From First to Last released the first single, eponymously titled "Dead Trees," off their fifth studio album on November 24, 2014. Weeks later in January 2015, From First to Last announced their signing to Sumerian Records for the release of their new album. On April 23, 2015 the band released Dead Trees through Sumerian.
Departure of Sotelo, Moore's return and the future (2016–present)
On July 30, 2016, former vocalist Sonny Moore held a radio show on Beats 1 as Skrillex. The final song of the radio show, an untitled bonus track was, according to Alternative Press, reminiscent of prior From First to Last work with Moore's vocals. The article talked about the rumors being generated by a Facebook post regarding a possible reunion.
On August 1, 2016, Spencer Sotelo announced he left the band.
On January 15, 2017, the band released a new single, "Make War", featuring vocalist Sonny Moore and original drummer Derek Bloom returning to the band (although the single featured drummer Travis Barker instead of Bloom.) Their first show back with Moore and Bloom was on February 7, during an Emo Nite LA event in Los Angeles, California at music venue Echoplex. This marked the band's first live performance with Moore in ten years and Bloom since his departure in 2010. Longtime bassist Matt Manning also appeared with the band during the show, having only performed alongside Moore briefly before his initial departure from the band. Aside from debuting "Make War" live, the band played a set featuring material strictly off of Dear Diary.... Guitarist Taylor Larson was not present at the performance, and is no longer a member of the band.
In 2017, Moore stated that "Make War" was the first they wrote after reuniting. He later stated that the band plans to release more music.
In December 2017, the band debuted a new song entitled "Surrender" at Emo Nite Day in Los Angeles. The track was later released on July 23, 2018, with Bloom returning on drums.
Musical style
From First to Last has been described as post-hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, and emo.
Band members
Current
Matt Good – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (1999–2010, 2013–present), lead vocals (1999–2002, 2007–2010), rhythm guitar (1999–2002)
Travis Richter – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals, backing vocals (2002–2009, 2013–present)
Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–2010, 2013–2014, 2017–present)
Sonny Moore – lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards (2004–2007, 2017–present)
Touring and session
Alicia Simmons-Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Mikey Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Wes Borland – bass, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Matt Fleischman – bass, backing vocals (2006–2007)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (2017)
Former
Phillip Reardon – lead vocals, unclean vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2002–2004)
Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals (2014–2016)
Blake Steiner – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
Scott Oord – bass, backing vocals (1999–2002)
Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
Jon Weisberg – bass, unclean vocals (2003–2005)
Parker Nelms – drums, percussion (1999)
Steve Pullman – drums, percussion, keyboards (1999–2002)
Greg Taylor – drums, percussion (2002)
Ernie Slenkovich – drums, percussion (2014–2016)
Chris Lent – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (2006–2009)
Taylor Larson – rhythm/lead guitar (2014–2016)
Matt Manning – bass, unclean vocals (2007–2010, 2013–2017)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
Heroine (2006)
From First to Last (2008)
Throne to the Wolves (2010)
Dead Trees (2015)
Awards
Further reading
Facts
1.From First to Last was initially formed in 1999 as First too Last in high school before renaming the band From First to Last in 2002. Founding member Matt Good was lead vocalist and guitarist of First to Last from 1999 to 2002 and again as From First to Last from 2007 to 2010, in which he featured as lead vocalist/guitarist on albums, From First to Last and Throne to Wolves.
References
External links
Musical groups established in 1999
Emo musical groups from Florida
American post-hardcore musical groups
Epitaph Records artists
Owsla artists
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Rise Records artists
Sumerian Records artists
1999 establishments in the United States | true | [
"Ideología is the second album by Nepal. In October 1995, they released their second album \"Ideología\" under \"Metal Command Records” with the support of \"Monsters of Rock\" in a limited edition of 1000 copies. After that, they signed with NEMS Enterprises. They did some concerts at Buenos Aires to perform their new material. After the gig, the drummer, Dario Galvan, left the band and was replaced with Facundo Vega. They did two shows with Angra in September 1996.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Escenio\" - 01:11\n \"Realidades\" - 04:31\n \"Ideología\" - 06:22\n \"Guerra Sucia\" - 03:12\n \"Paredes De Hierro\" - 03:46\n \"Enfriando Las Heridas\" - 05:08\n \"Golpea\" - 02:37\n \"Katmandú\" - 02:38\n \"Herederos Del Miedo\" - 04:55\n \"Predicando La Mentira\" - 03:32\n\nReferences \n\n1995 albums\nNepal (band) albums",
"Talking Telephone Numbers is a British game show that aired on ITV from 28 February 1994 to 29 December 1997 and was hosted by Phillip Schofield and initially Emma Forbes, who was later replaced by Claudia Winkleman. The show's format features variety acts which will be used to generate numbers. Viewers will have the chance to win up to £25,000 if the five random numbers generated during the program match the last five digits of their telephone number in any order.\n\nFormat\nAn act would perform for everyone watching and play a short game that generated a number from 0 to 9. Five digits were selected in this manner, and these were meant to match the last five digits of a viewer's telephone number in any order. Viewers who did would call the show via an onscreen telephone number, and hopefully be answered by one of 96 telephonists. If one of the telephonists answered them, they would become a potential contestant. While the telephonists took in their calls, a pop singer would sing their latest single or a final act would perform.\n\nA phone line was then picked at random, and that viewer would have a chance to win money. They would then have to answer three questions with numerical answers. Getting them all right won the game; an incorrect answer, however, resulted in another line being picked. This went on until someone won the game.\n\nThe winner of the game would be given a choice to either take £10,000 or take a cash prize attached to their telephonist (ranging from £1,000 to £25,000); regardless of choice, the telephonist would reveal their value, which almost nobody took.\n\nInternational versions\n\nAustralia\nAn Australian version aired in early 1996 on the Seven Network hosted by Rob Elliott & Bridget Adams and was produced by Grundy and Celador (the show's format creator). It lasted three weeks before being cancelled due to low ratings.\n\nMalaysia\nIn Malaysia, Talking Telephone Numbers aired on TV3 in 2002 hosted by Khairil Rashid sponsored by TM.\n\nSerbia\nIn Serbia, Talking Telephone Numbers aired on RTS 1 in 2004-2005 hosted by Aleksandar Srećković & Nataša Pavlović.\n\nTransmissions\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1994 British television series debuts\n1997 British television series endings\n1990s British game shows\nBritish game shows\nCarlton Television\nTelevision series by ITV Studios\nEnglish-language television shows\nITV game shows"
]
|
[
"From First to Last",
"Heroine (2006)",
"When was heroine released",
"The album was released on March 21, 2006.",
"What songs were on the album?",
"I don't know.",
"Was the album successful?",
"It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000.",
"What band members worked on the album?",
"producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album.",
"What other band members were included in the production?",
"The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties",
"Did they perform any shows?",
"The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords."
]
| C_8360e6920a814dc2a7b81eb7fa17d25e_1 | Did they perform at any other venues? | 7 | Did From First to Last perform at any other venues besides the 2006 Vans Warped Tour? | From First to Last | The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.. From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine. FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last. CANNOTANSWER | Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour." | From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in the Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. Formed by Matt Good, Scott Oord, and Parker Nelms in November 1999, the current line-up consists of Matt Good (lead guitar), Sonny Moore (lead vocals), Travis Richter (rhythm guitar), and Derek Bloom (drums).
The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 which they recorded with founding member and vocalist Phillip Reardon who left the band in 2004 due to personal and creative differences. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount followed in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with Moore.
Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electronic project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning, and Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. Their third self-titled studio album was released in 2008 on Suretone Records. In August 2009 the band signed to Rise Records. In late 2009, Richter left the band. Their fourth studio album, Throne to the Wolves was released on March 16, 2010. On July 28, 2010, the band entered a hiatus.
In November 2013, the band re-formed, with Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo as the new lead vocalist, as well as Richter rejoining the band. They released their fifth album Dead Trees in April 2015. Sotelo departed the band in July 2016. Former vocalist Sonny Moore rejoined the band in January 2017. In May 2020 Matt Good admitted that while there are a few tracks that could be on a new album, he's unsure if it will ever come to fruition.
History
Formation and Aesthetic (1999–2003)
First Too Last was created in November 1999 in Tampa by Matt Good, Michael Blanchard and Scott Oord. Scott played bass, while Matt took on lead vocals and was convinced by Scott to also play guitar. Parker Nelms (drums) held practice at his house, but when the band began to travel, Parker was too young to do so. He was replaced by Steve Pullman to round out the lineup that, for the next three years, would play small shows in Florida.
In 2002, Matt joined the grindcore band The Color of Violence (at that time, called Slaughter vs Skeleton, Fetus Destroyer), where he met Travis Richter (guitar), who would later join First To Last, and Joey Antillion (bass). Some time later, Greg Taylor joined as (drums), who wrote about 4 songs, in which the Aesthetic Demos were created. After hearing the demos of what would be their first EP, Phillip Reardon (lead vocals) and Derek Bloom (drums) joined the band.
In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings which featured the vocals of Reardon, Good and Richter. By the end of the year, they had changed their name to From First To Last and signed to Epitaph Records.
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
After the Aesthetic EP, the band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and lead guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist and singer from California, Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Valdosta, Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's rhythm guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.
Matt Good wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was released on June 29, 2004.
From late May to mid-June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He Is Legend.
Heroine (2006)
The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson. As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album. Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at No. 25, with first-week sales of over 33,000. Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records after bidding between that label and Warner Bros.
From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.
FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005). Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets. Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour. The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave." Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."
Borland toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a Fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Moore's departure, lineup instability and self-titled album (2007–2009)
In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also due to the fact that singing in the band was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords, resulting in serious damage which needed multiple surgeries in order to be fixed. Moore posted new recordings on his Myspace and was part of a group of a band called Sonny and the Blood Monkeys. Moore now writes, produces, and performs music under the alias/stage name Skrillex, who has won 8 Grammy Awards for his electronic dance music, and now has 7 EP's and 2 Albums.
After vocalist Moore's departure, From First to Last faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become a full-time bassist. The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.
The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go on tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.
After completing a full mix of their new material, From First to Last was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after, they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality. The band recorded this time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. At midnight on November 14, 2007, they released the first single from the album, Two as One, on their Myspace account, and they later played that song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. A video was made for the song Worlds Away which was highly publicized. Although this record was widely promoted and the band had one of its biggest years ever, they personally feel the album was a failure in that it did not portray the true band as it was meant to be portrayed. Currently, they rarely, if ever, play any songs off this album, the only occasional one being the song "Deliverance".
From First to Last began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1 with guests Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy on the Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, and Mayday Parade.
On November 29, From First to Last announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.
On May 6, 2008, From First to Last released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.
On June 28, From First to Last updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full-time member.
From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We Are The Ocean.
Throne to the Wolves (2009–2010)
FFTL stated that they would be on a break from touring in late 2008. Members Travis Richter and Derek Bloom were focusing on their side project, The Color of Violence, with tours soon after and a full-length debut album, Youthanize, which was released April 7, 2009. Member Chris Lent toured as the drummer for the band I Set My Friends on Fire as well as one of the two drummers for The Color of Violence (along with Jon Syverson of the band Daughters); Lent also confirmed that he is no longer a member of FFTL and is now writing/recording with ISMFOF. FFTL began writing new songs early 2009 and started demoing new songs in March 2009 for their next album, expected to be released March 2010. A full-length demo of a song on the new album was put on their Myspace at that time, as well as the previously unheard b-side from Heroine, Save Us. A Second Full Length Demo was added on July 3, 2009, and a message to fans that they would be announcing their recording schedule and tentative label. As of August 6, 2009, the band had begun to track drums for the new record at EarthSound studios in Valdosta Georgia, with Lee Dyess.
In September 2009, Miss May I announced they would be touring with From First to Last in October 2009.
On October 1, 2009 FFTL announced that they would be touring with Greeley Estates and in October and November, and also that they had signed to Rise Records.
The band toured on the "You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour" with Alesana, The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, and Memphis May Fire in December 2009. Though recording was supposedly finished, the band was called off the road and was forced to cancel the last two weeks worth of performances – much to the dismay of fans, some of whom began to complain that the band could never finish a tour, and start rumors of a breakup – in order to go back home to Valdosta and put finishing touches on their recording. Matt Good responded to these claims and rumors
From First to Last released a new song off the album, "Going Lohan", on their MySpace page in November. The new album, Throne to the Wolves, was announced and slated for release on March 16, 2010.
In late 2009 FFTL went through yet another lineup change with Travis Richter leaving the band; no official announcement had yet been made by the band and no reason was given for his departure. Matt Good and Matt Manning have been taking over Travis's screaming role and Blake Steiner (ex-Mia Medusa guitarist), who recorded on Throne to the Wolves, is his replacement. On December 31 FFTL released the song "I'll Inoculate The World with the Virus of My Disillusionment" on their MySpace.
On Travis' departure from the band:
On January 20, 2010, From First to Last finally made an official announcement about Travis's departure from the band via Myspace.
Travis is now the lead vocalist for the progressive metal band The Human Abstract. Richter left the band in 2011 and became a dubstep producer with the group ModifiedNoise.
Beginning on March 13, 2010 From First to Last headlined the Royal Family Tour 2010, supported by Eyes Set To Kill, Confide, Black Veil Brides and Sleeping with Sirens. That tour concluded on April 10. Eyes Set to Kill dropped off the tour for other engagements a week before.
Throne to the Wolves was released March 16, 2010. The album was received well by critics and fans alike; getting favorable reviews from Alternative Press, and Absolute Punk. The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums, and number 45 on The Top Independent Albums. This is the band's first album not to chart the Billboard 200 since Dear Diary. After spending one week on the charts it dropped off; despite its poor debut, and first week sales of less than 4000, the album has been seen as a fresh start, and a new beginning for the band.
Starting on May 8, 2010 the band toured with Our Last Night, We Came as Romans, and A Bullet For Pretty Boy on the Welcome to the Circus tour, headlined by Asking Alexandria. The tour will end on June 9
On June 10, 2010 the band will begin playing dates through June 18 supporting A Skylit Drive on the second half of the "Go Fist Pump Yourself Tour", along with Tides of Man and Abandon All Ships. I Set My Friends on Fire were originally slated to play, but ISMFOF was forced to back out due to recording delays.
Hiatus (2010–2013)
On July 28, 2010 Matt Good announced that From First to Last was going on hiatus:
On July 29, 2010, Craig Owens posted a video on Facebook saying that Matt Good was the guitarist and keyboardist of his new band. On August 18, 2010, Owens announced account that the band is called Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows. The band's members include vocalist Craig Owens (Chiodos), drummer Aaron Stern (Matchbook Romance), guitarist/vocalist Nick Martin (Underminded), bassist Adam Russell (Story of the Year) and Matt Good in guitar, keyboards and vocals. Good left the band in 2012, now is a dubstep/electronica DJ with AJ Calderon in the duo Kit Fysto. D.R.U.G.S. disbanded in April 2012, as a result of the departure of lead singer Craig Owens who rejoined his former band Chiodos.
In 2011, Matt Manning and Blake Steiner formed the band Eye in the Sky. The band's members include Matt Simpson (drums), Blake Steiner (guitar) and Matt Manning (vocals and bass).
On August 20, 2013 Jon Weisberg launched his new band XO Stereo and released the first single Show And Tell with an accompanying music video. The band also features Justin Whitesel from LoveHateHero.
Reunion, introduction of Sotelo and Dead Trees (2013–2015)
In November 2013, Matt Good, Derek Bloom, Matt Manning and Travis Richter reunited as From First to Last and launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording of a new EP. Good said he also reached out to Sonny Moore (Skrillex) to see if he would be interested in contributing in some way. Months after exceeding its crowd-funding goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000, the band changed its plans slightly: the recording sessions proved fruitful and the band decided to release a full-length album instead of an EP, and the lineup changed significantly. Bloom was no longer a part of the reunion and the remaining members expanded to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Spencer Sotelo of Periphery, drummer Ernie Slenkovich and third guitarist Taylor Larson. With the new lineup, From First to Last recorded and released an online stream of a new version of "Note to Self" – originally released on Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 with Moore on vocals – to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. In the autumn of 2014, the band continued on with a tour with Black Veil Brides, Set It Off, William Control and Falling in Reverse.
From First to Last released the first single, eponymously titled "Dead Trees," off their fifth studio album on November 24, 2014. Weeks later in January 2015, From First to Last announced their signing to Sumerian Records for the release of their new album. On April 23, 2015 the band released Dead Trees through Sumerian.
Departure of Sotelo, Moore's return and the future (2016–present)
On July 30, 2016, former vocalist Sonny Moore held a radio show on Beats 1 as Skrillex. The final song of the radio show, an untitled bonus track was, according to Alternative Press, reminiscent of prior From First to Last work with Moore's vocals. The article talked about the rumors being generated by a Facebook post regarding a possible reunion.
On August 1, 2016, Spencer Sotelo announced he left the band.
On January 15, 2017, the band released a new single, "Make War", featuring vocalist Sonny Moore and original drummer Derek Bloom returning to the band (although the single featured drummer Travis Barker instead of Bloom.) Their first show back with Moore and Bloom was on February 7, during an Emo Nite LA event in Los Angeles, California at music venue Echoplex. This marked the band's first live performance with Moore in ten years and Bloom since his departure in 2010. Longtime bassist Matt Manning also appeared with the band during the show, having only performed alongside Moore briefly before his initial departure from the band. Aside from debuting "Make War" live, the band played a set featuring material strictly off of Dear Diary.... Guitarist Taylor Larson was not present at the performance, and is no longer a member of the band.
In 2017, Moore stated that "Make War" was the first they wrote after reuniting. He later stated that the band plans to release more music.
In December 2017, the band debuted a new song entitled "Surrender" at Emo Nite Day in Los Angeles. The track was later released on July 23, 2018, with Bloom returning on drums.
Musical style
From First to Last has been described as post-hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, and emo.
Band members
Current
Matt Good – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (1999–2010, 2013–present), lead vocals (1999–2002, 2007–2010), rhythm guitar (1999–2002)
Travis Richter – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals, backing vocals (2002–2009, 2013–present)
Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–2010, 2013–2014, 2017–present)
Sonny Moore – lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards (2004–2007, 2017–present)
Touring and session
Alicia Simmons-Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Mikey Way – bass, backing vocals (2005)
Wes Borland – bass, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Matt Fleischman – bass, backing vocals (2006–2007)
Travis Barker – drums, percussion (2017)
Former
Phillip Reardon – lead vocals, unclean vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2002–2004)
Spencer Sotelo – lead vocals (2014–2016)
Blake Steiner – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
Scott Oord – bass, backing vocals (1999–2002)
Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
Jon Weisberg – bass, unclean vocals (2003–2005)
Parker Nelms – drums, percussion (1999)
Steve Pullman – drums, percussion, keyboards (1999–2002)
Greg Taylor – drums, percussion (2002)
Ernie Slenkovich – drums, percussion (2014–2016)
Chris Lent – keyboards, synthesizers, percussion (2006–2009)
Taylor Larson – rhythm/lead guitar (2014–2016)
Matt Manning – bass, unclean vocals (2007–2010, 2013–2017)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004)
Heroine (2006)
From First to Last (2008)
Throne to the Wolves (2010)
Dead Trees (2015)
Awards
Further reading
Facts
1.From First to Last was initially formed in 1999 as First too Last in high school before renaming the band From First to Last in 2002. Founding member Matt Good was lead vocalist and guitarist of First to Last from 1999 to 2002 and again as From First to Last from 2007 to 2010, in which he featured as lead vocalist/guitarist on albums, From First to Last and Throne to Wolves.
References
External links
Musical groups established in 1999
Emo musical groups from Florida
American post-hardcore musical groups
Epitaph Records artists
Owsla artists
Musical groups from California
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Rise Records artists
Sumerian Records artists
1999 establishments in the United States | true | [
"A radius clause is a form of non-compete clause used in the live music industry, in which a tour promoter stipulates that a performer, for a certain length of time prior to or following an appearance at a concert or festival, must not hold concerts at other locations within a certain radius of the city where they are to perform. In essence, it gives the promoter a form of territorial exclusivity, ensuring that the performer does not book concerts with competing promoters and venues in nearby areas, which can undermine ticket sales for their main event.\n\nCritics in favor of radius clauses have agreed with their intent to protect the investments of organizers into the production and promotion of music events, and that they are a worthwhile trade-off for acts wanting to obtain the expanded exposure that a festival performance can provide. Others have criticized the concept, arguing that they effectively discourage major acts from performing in smaller cities, and are influenced by a profit-oriented mentality in the live events industry. In 2010, the state of Illinois also launched an antitrust investigation into the use of radius clauses by Lollapalooza.\n\nEffects \nRadius clauses contractually ensure that a particular act does not hold events at competing venues or festivals within a certain distance of a city in which they are scheduled to perform, for a length of time prior to and/or after the performance. For example, a band booked to perform at a venue in San Francisco may be barred from performing in cities within a radius of San Francisco, for 60 days, before and after the concert. These clauses intend to maximize ticket sales; as an act cannot also perform concerts in smaller, nearby markets, fans in these markets are forced to instead buy tickets for the act in the major market.\n\nThe use of radius clauses has been considered controversial by some venue owners—especially those who own small-market venues in proximity to larger markets, or those in markets with a large number of venues—as they affect their ability to book major acts. In the city of Chicago, radius clauses imposed by the city's major music festival Lollapalooza can make it difficult for venues and block parties around the city to book major acts during the lucrative summer months. Similar effects are faced by the Greater Los Angeles Area in the lead-up to the Coachella Festival, although they are not as pronounced as those of Lollapalooza because their radius clauses fall during the winter months.\n\nDangerbird Records founder Jeff Castelaz argued that such clauses were a \"reality\" in the music business, since music festival promoters have to protect their investments in securing acts and promoting their event. On the other hand, while noting that festival appearances can be a significant milestone for an up-and-coming act rather than exclusively playing clubs, talent agency head Tom Windish felt that there was a mentality in the live events industry where \"if you don't have 75,000 people at your event, it's a failure.\"\n\nNotable users\n\nCoachella \nThe Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival uses radius clauses which, as of 2012, could prevent acts from performing in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, or San Diego for up to three months before and after the festival. The festival has allowed some of its acts to make appearances in the region prior to the festival, but only at events and venues owned or controlled by festival owner Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)—such as Jay-Z at Staples Center in 2010. That year also marked the first time Coachella had ever sold out in advance.\n\nIn 2018, the organizers of the Portland, Oregon Soul'd Out Music Festival filed an antitrust lawsuit against AEG, alleging that Coachella had enforced radius clauses much stricter than previously reported. In its original complaint, the organizers stated that the restrictions had extended to the entirety of California, as well as Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. In an amended complaint, the organizers identified that Coachella performers are forbidden from:\n During a period that starts on the December 15 prior to Coachella and ends on the following May 1.\n Playing any festival in North America\n Playing any \"hard ticket\" concerts in Southern California\n Publicizing any tour stops in California, Arizona, Oregon, or Washington until after the Coachella lineup is announced.\n Publicizing any performances at competing festivals in California, its bordering states, and Washington, or a headlining concert in Southern California, until May 8.\n Publicizing any performances at competing festivals in the remainder of the United States (except for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, South by Southwest, and Ultra Music Festival) until after the Coachella lineup is announced. With respect to Nevada, they can publicize appearances at Las Vegas casinos, or tour stops in other parts of Nevada, but cannot publicize Las Vegas festival appearances.\n\nOther events \nIn April 2010, it was reported that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan had launched an antitrust investigation into the Lollapalooza festival's use of radius clauses. It was alleged that the festival had imposed radius clauses on performers that were so strict, that some acts were barred from performing within of Chicago—including cities as far as Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee—for as long as six months prior to, and three months after Lollapalooza.\n\nIn June 2014, the Toronto festival NXNE announced that it would drop a 45-day radius clause it had implemented for its 2014 edition, following protests by fans and artists (including a Change.org petition with over 3000 signatures), with a particular emphasis on its effects on emerging artists. NXNE 2014 marked the first time that it had been held just weeks after Canadian Music Week (CMW)—which had moved to May from its traditional March date; the clause had been implemented primarily to prevent NXNE acts from performing at CMW.\n\nIn 2017, South By Southwest (SXSW) was the subject of criticism for several controversial clauses in its performance contracts, including one warning that international performers entering the United States under the Visa Waiver Program to perform at SXSW would face threats of deportation and passport revocation if they performed outside of their \"official\" events (a large number of parties unaffiliated with SXSW are held in Austin alongside the official festival). Managing director Roland Swenson stated that this clause was based on U.S. immigration law; performing in the country requires a work visa, but SXSW performers have typically qualified under the Visa Waiver Program because it classifies itself as an \"industry showcase\". Those who do perform under this clause are legally forbidden from performing any shows beyond the specific showcase they have been granted permission for. Some critics initially interpreted this statement as being a traditional radius clause.\n\nReferences \n\nAnti-competitive practices\nBusiness terms\nMusic industry",
"Small Drum Corps Association (SDCA), was founded in 2007 to develop venues for smaller drum and bugle corps to perform and compete.\n\nAbout \nSDCA provides venues for smaller drum corps to perform and potentially compete. The association welcomes concert and parade-only corps, as well as active members of Drum Corps International or Drum Corps Associates. Membership is open, meaning any group that performs at a hosted event is considered a member of the association. Drum lines, color guards and marching bands are not excluded.\n\nSanctioned events are often hosted in conjunction with community events, such as parades and festivals. Emphasis is placed on audience engagement and entertainment. Scoring, if available, features spectator input.\n\nLike DCI and other associations, SDCA pays appearance fees to participating groups.\n\nSee also \n Drum Corps Associates\n Drum Corps International\n Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nDrum and bugle corps\n \n2007 establishments in the United States"
]
|
[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s"
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s? | 1 | What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
American comics characters
Characters created by Bill Parker (comics)
Characters created by C. C. Beck
Comics characters introduced in 1939
Superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics American superheroes
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics child superheroes
Child superheroes
DC Comics film characters
Fictional orphans
DC Comics orphans
Fictional characters granted magic or power through dealings
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional radio personalities
Fictional twins
Film serial characters
Golden Age superheroes
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Rapid human age change in fiction
Superheroes who are adopted
Superheroes with alter egos
DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.\n\nIn the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel is Carol Danvers, portrayed by Brie Larson in Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame (both 2019), and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Brie Larson will reprise her role in the sequel The Marvels (2023). Mckenna Grace portrayed a young Carol in Captain Marvel.\n\nPublication history \n\nFollowing a trial in which DC Comics sued Fawcett Comics for breach of copyright, claiming Fawcett's Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman, the latter stopped publishing Captain Marvel in 1953. In the late 1960s Marvel gained the trademark \"Captain Marvel\" with its first series.\n\nIn order to retain its trademark, Marvel has published a Captain Marvel title periodically every few years since, leading to a number of ongoing series, limited series, and one-shots featuring a range of characters using the Captain Marvel alias.\n\nMar-Vell \n\nThe first Captain Marvel comic book printed by Marvel Comics was created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan. This character is an alien military officer, Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Imperial Militia, who is sent to observe the planet Earth as it is developing technology to travel into space. Mar-Vell eventually wearies of his superiors' malicious intent and allies himself with Earth, and the Kree Empire brands him a traitor. From then on, Mar-Vell fights to protect Earth from all threats.\n\nHe was later revamped by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. Having been exiled to the Negative Zone by the Supreme Intelligence, the only way Mar-Vell can temporarily escape is to exchange atoms with Rick Jones by means of special wristbands called Nega-Bands. He is also given superpowers, and his Kree military uniform is replaced with a form-fitting costume. The process of the young man being replaced in a flash by the older superhero was a nod to the original Fawcett Captain Marvel, which had young Billy Batson say the magic word \"Shazam\" to transform into the hero.\n\nWith the title's sales still flagging, Marvel allowed Jim Starlin to conceptually revamp the character, although his appearance was little changed. Mar-Vell is freed from the Negative Zone and becomes a cosmic champion, the \"Protector of the Universe\" appointed by the cosmic entity Eon. Together, Mar-Vell and Rick continue to battle against evil, most notably battling the Death-worshipping Thanos. Mar-Vell became a close ally of the Titans, and one of their number, Elysius, became his lover.\n\nHis career was cut short when he developed inoperable cancer, the result of earlier exposure to toxic nerve gas during a battle with Nitro. He died from this cancer on Titan in the presence of the Marvel Universe's superhero community, as chronicled in Marvel's first large-format graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel, published in 1982.\n\nMonica Rambeau \n\nThe second Captain Marvel was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita Jr. She first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (1982).\n\nThe character is Monica Rambeau, a police lieutenant from New Orleans Louisiana, who possesses the power to transform herself into any form of energy. Her powers were briefly altered so that she cannot transform to energy, but instead can generate a personal force field. Sometime later, the Stranger returned her energy-transformation abilities. She is a member of the Avengers, and at one point she served as their leader. She eventually ceded the Captain Marvel name to the original Captain Marvel's son after which Rambeau took the name Photon, using that name for quite some time until Genis-Vell adopted the same name. Genis-Vell and Monica discussed this, and Monica decided on the name Pulsar.\n\nRambeau later joined H.A.T.E. (the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) in the new series titled Nextwave. In this series created by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen, H.A.T.E. (a subsidiary of the Beyond Corporation) forms a team to fight the Bizarre Weapons of Mass Destruction. Members include Monica Rambeau, a man known only as The Captain, Boom Boom, Aaron Stack, and Elsa Bloodstone. She returned to the Avengers using the codename Spectrum.\n\nGenis-Vell \n\nThe third Captain Marvel is Genis-Vell, who first appeared in Silver Surfer Annual #6 (1993) using the codename of \"Legacy\". The character is the genetically-engineered son of Mar-Vell and his lover Elysius, created from the late Mar-Vell's cell samples and artificially aged to physical, if not emotional, maturity. Genis, like his father, wears the Nega-Bands, possesses Cosmic Awareness, and is, for a time, bonded with Rick Jones. Although the pair do not get along at first, they eventually become good friends. Genis goes insane and threatens to destroy the universe.\n\nAfter dying and resurrecting himself—with the secret aid of Baron Helmut Zemo—Genis-Vell joins the Thunderbolts under the name Photon. However, in accelerating his resurrection, Zemo links Genis to the ends of time, causing a degenerative effect on the universe. To prevent the inevitable destruction of all existence, Zemo scatters pieces of Genis-Vell's body through time and the Darkforce Dimension.\n\nPhyla-Vell \n\nThe fourth Captain Marvel is Phyla-Vell, Genis-Vell's younger sister. She was created by Peter David and Paul Azaceta in Captain Marvel vol. 5 #16 (Jan. 2004). Her name is a taxonomical pun on the part of writer Peter David. Phyla is created when Genis, an only child, recreates the universe and, in doing so, creates various anomalies which result in his mother being restored to life and his sister coming into existence. She is last seen romancing Moondragon.\n\nPhyla-Vell appears in the Annihilation event, fighting alongside Nova's United Front in an effort to stop the destructive armies of Annihilus. She becomes the new Quasar after the original one is killed by Annihilus.\n\nPhyla has superhuman strength. She can fire energy blasts, fly, and act like an \"energy sponge\", absorbing any energy attacks directed at her and returning them as energy blasts. Phyla also has cosmic awareness and is a proficient fighter.\n\nPhyla later became an avatar for Oblivion and renamed herself Martyr. She died to save her comrades in the Guardians of the Galaxy.\n\nKhn'nr \n\nThe fifth Captain Marvel is Khn'nr, who first appeared in Civil War: The Return (March 2007). He is a Skrull sleeper agent who is bound with Mar-Vell's DNA to lock itself into Mar-Vell's form and given technological replicas of the Kree Nega-Bands. However, his mental conditioning was botched, causing Khn'nr's personality to be erased leaving the Mar-Vell persona dominant. Though part of the Secret Invasion, this Marvel decides to fight against the invading Skrulls. As of now, he is apparently dead.\n\nNoh-Varr \n\nAs part of the Dark Reign storyline Noh-Varr joined the new team the Dark Avengers using the alias Captain Marvel. He first appears in Marvel Boy #1 (Aug. 2000). He subsequently quit the team upon discovering they were all villains, at which point he was contacted by the Supreme Intelligence, given a copy of the original Captain Marvel's Nega Bands, and told he should take his place as the Kree's protector of Earth. This led to Noh-Varr taking the new code name Protector. Noh-Varr currently goes by the codename Marvel Boy, the name he uses when he joins the Young Avengers and works alongside the Inhuman Royal Family.\n\nCarol Danvers \n\nIn July 2012, Carol Danvers, the longtime super-heroine known as Ms. Marvel, assumed the mantle of Captain Marvel in an ongoing series written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Dexter Soy. Danvers dons a jumpsuit and explores her own past. DeConnick said at WonderCon 2012 that her pitch for the series could be described as \"Carol Danvers as Chuck Yeager\". She said the series would contemplate what Captain Marvel's legend means to Danvers, how she will wield it, and how the rest of the Marvel Universe reacts.\n\nOther versions\n\nUltimate Captain Marvel\n\nThe Ultimate Marvel miniseries Ultimate Secret introduces a renegade Kree who has been surgically altered to look human and sent to Earth by his people to observe its destruction by the entity Gah Lak Tus, but defects to help the humans. He wears a specially designed combat suit that is activated by his wristwatch. The Kree technology in the suit gives Mahr Vehl increased strength and allows him to fly, create energy shields, turn invisible, view different fields of the light spectrum, and fire energy blasts through the \"totalkannon\" located on his lower arm.\n\nHis real name is Pluskommander Geheneris Halason Mahr Vehl. As with the Marvel Universe character of Mar-Vell, he assumes the identity of Dr. Philip Lawson, a scientist working on the space program. He dated the Ultimate version of Carol Danvers. The name 'Captain Marvel' arises as a mispronunciation by General Nick Fury and Carol Danvers. Only the Falcon and Thor have bothered to learn how to pronounce his name correctly.\n\nRuins\n\nIn the two-issue Warren Ellis mini-series Ruins (1995), Captain Marvel is one of the many Kree prisoners, in a Kree reservation in Nevada. The reservation was placed deliberately on top of a former nuclear test site. As a result of this, the majority of the Kree are suffering from various forms of cancers and tumours including Mar-Vell who is the Kree's spokesperson. Mar-Vell gives an interview to Daily Bugle reporter Phil Sheldon regarding the failed Kree invasion of Earth. Mar-Vell recounts how his ship was made vulnerable to a nuclear strike when their cloaking and shielding was affected by cosmic radiation from a deceased Silver Surfer.\n\nFantastic Four: The End\n\nIn the limited series Fantastic Four: The End, the superheroine formerly known as Kismet (now under the name of Ayesha) has apparently taken over the Captain Marvel mantle in the not-too-distant future.\n\nHouse of M\n\nIn the alternate, mutant-dominated world created by Scarlet Witch, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel in mainstream continuity) uses the name Captain Marvel and is one of the few non-mutant heroes with a successful career.\n\nMarvel Zombies\n\nIn the mini-series Marvel Zombies, Captain Marvel is seen sitting with Vulture and Hercules (both infected) waiting for Iron Man. He is later killed by the Silver Surfer for immediate cause.\n\nCancerverse\nIn The Thanos Imperative, the main villain is an alternate version of Captain Marvel called Lord Mar-Vell. Unlike his Earth-616 counterpart, this Mar-Vell colluded with the Many-angled ones to survive his cancer by actually destroying Death via the sacrifice of its Avatar.\n\nAmalgam Comics\n\nIn two issues of JLX and JLX: Unleashed, Captain Marvel combines with Captain Marvel to become yet another Captain Marvel, sporting the DC Comics lightning bolt uniform design but with the original green and white colors of the Marvel version.\n\nAge of Ultron\n\nIn the Age of Ultron crossover event, Janet van Dyne becomes Captain Marvel in an alternate timeline created by the death of Henry Pym. Pym is murdered by a time-travelling Wolverine to prevent the creation of Ultron, an artificial intelligence which in a post-apocalyptic future has wiped out most of the Earth's population including most superheroes.\n\nIn other media\n\nMarvel Cinematic Universe \n Captain Marvel was released in March 2019. It was centered on the Carol Danvers version of the character portrayed by Brie Larson. The film also featured Mar-Vell played by Annette Bening and Monica Rambeau played by Akira Akbar.\n Carol Danvers appeared in the films Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). \n Teyonah Parris portrays the adult version of Monica Rambeau in the miniseries WandaVision (2021).\n Both Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris will reprise their roles as Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau respectively in The Marvels (2023).\n\nGames \nCaptain Marvel appears as a purchasable outfit in Fortnite Battle Royale.\n\nReferences\n\nSources \n\nCaptain Marvel (Phyla-Vell) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe\n\nExternal links \n Captain Marvel at the Marvel Universe\n Captain Marvel at the Marvel Database Project\n Captain Marvel Appearances in Publication Order\n Captain Marvel Culture A history of the many Captain Marvels\n\n \n1968 comics debuts\nCharacters created by Stan Lee\nComics about women\nMarvel Comics adapted into films\nMarvel Comics titles\nArticles about multiple fictional characters",
"Mark Eugene Gruenwald (; June 18, 1953 – August 12, 1996) was an American comic book writer, editor, and occasional penciler known for his long association with Marvel Comics.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly career \nGruenwald got his start in comics fandom, publishing his own fanzine, Omniverse, which explored the concept of continuity. Before being hired by Marvel, he wrote text articles for DC Comics’ official fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics. Articles by Gruenwald include \"The Martian Chronicles\" (a history of the Martian Manhunter) in issue #13 and several articles on the history of the Justice League in issue #14.\n\nEntry to Marvel \nIn 1978 he was hired by Marvel Comics, where he remained for the rest of his career. Hired initially as an assistant editor in January 1978, Gruenwald was promoted to full editorship by Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter in 1982, putting Gruenwald in charge of The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider Woman, and What If. During this period, he shared an office with writer/editor Denny O'Neil, whom Gruenwald considered a mentor.\n\nPenciler \nDuring the years 1982–1984, Gruenwald did fill-in pencil work for a handful of Marvel comics, most notably the 1983 Hawkeye limited series, but also issues of What If?, Marvel Team-Up Annual, The Incredible Hulk, and Questprobe.\n\nThe cover of Comic Reader #180 (May–June 1980) featuring Hawkman and Adam Strange and the entry for Merlyn the Archer in Who's Who: the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #15 (May 1986) were Gruenwald's only comics artwork outside of Marvel.\n\nWriter \nIn 1982, Gruenwald, Steven Grant, and Bill Mantlo co-wrote Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, the first limited series published by Marvel Comics. As a writer, Gruenwald is best known for creating the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and his ten-year stint as the writer of Captain America (from 1985 to 1995) – during which he contributed several notable characters such as Crossbones, Diamondback and U.S. Agent. He made a deliberate effort to create villains who would be specific to Captain America, as opposed to generic foes who could as easily have been introduced in another comic. At one point Gruenwald owned a replica of Captain America's shield – the same shield now owned by Stephen Colbert.\n\nHis 60-issue run on Quasar (1989–1994) realized Gruenwald's ambition to write his own kind of superhero. However, he considered his magnum opus to be the mid-1980s 12-issue maxiseries Squadron Supreme, which told the story of an alternate universe where a group of well-intended superheroes decide that they would be best suited to run the planet. Gruenwald was highly loyal to each series he wrote. In addition to his lengthy stint on Captain America, he wrote the entire runs of both Quasar (save for one issue) and D.P.7, and Jim Salicrup recalled that when Gruenwald was taken off of Spider-Woman after only 12 issues, he \"was crushed.\"\n\nExecutive editor \n\nOn September 1, 1987, Gruenwald became Marvel's executive editor, with a particular remit as the keeper of continuity. Gruenwald was famous for a perfect recollection of even the most trivial details.\n\nIn the pages of Fantastic Four, Walt Simonson paid homage to Gruenwald by having the Time Variance Authority (TVA)'s staff all be clones of Gruenwald; no one could keep track of everything but him.\n\nGruenwald was a recurring character with Tom DeFalco in the single-panel comic The Bull's Eye that ran in Marvel comics in the late 1980s–early 1990s, created by Rick Parker and Barry Dutter. These strips, which ran on the Bullpen Bulletins page during the majority of DeFalco's run as editor-in-chief, featured Gruenwald depicted as a caricature and foil for DeFalco's antics.\n\nDeath \nIn 1996, Gruenwald succumbed to a heart attack, the result of an unsuspected congenital heart defect. Gruenwald was a well-known practical joker and, due to his young age, many of his friends and co-workers initially believed the reports of his death to be just another joke. Just days prior, he had done one of his trademark cartwheels down the halls of the Bullpen. A longtime lover of comics, Gruenwald made it known among his friends and family that his one desire was to have his ashes used in part of a comic. In accordance with his request, he was cremated, and his ashes were mixed with the ink used to print the first printing of the trade paperback compilation of Squadron Supreme.\n\nPersonal life \nGruenwald married singer Belinda Glass in May 1981. They later divorced, and he married Catherine Schuller on October 12, 1992 in New York after a year's courtship; she was the executor of Gruenwald's famous will. Gruenwald had a daughter, Sara.\n\nLegacy \nThe Amalgam Comics book The Exciting X-Patrol #1 (June 1997) is dedicated to Gruenwald's memory as was Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 which saw the return of Norman Osborn after his supposed death twenty years earlier.\n\nIn the DC Universe, a building in Gotham City was named the Von Gruenwald Tower, and in the novel Captain America: Liberty's Torch written by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll, the lawyer kidnapped to defend the similarly kidnapped Captain America in a mock trial before a militia is named Mark Gruenwald, and is described with the same general physical attributes and personality as the real Gruenwald. The lawyer acts heroically throughout the story.\n\nIn Richard Starkings' Elephantmen, the executive director of the Information Agency where almost all of the main characters of the series work is called Gruenwald and bears a strong resemblance to Mark Gruenwald, down to his personal traits. In an interview with Newsarama, Richard Starkings confirmed that the character was based on his friend.\n\nIn volume four of Nova from Marvel Comics, the new director of Project Pegasus is named Dr. Gruenwald.\n\nIn 2006, Gruenwald was officially named the \"Patron Saint of Marveldom\" in the new \"Bullpen Bulletins\" pages.\n\nIn the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), TVA analyst Mobius M. Mobius is portrayed by Owen Wilson, and is made to resemble Gruenwald's likeness.\n\nJason Olsen's Mark Gruenwald and the Star Spangled Symbolism of Captain America, 1985-1995, a book about Gruenwald's run on Captain America, was published by McFarland & Company in 2021.\n\nSelected bibliography\nAll for Marvel Comics unless otherwise noted.\n\nRegular writer\nSpider-Woman #9–20 (December 1978 – November 1979) – (#17–20 with outside plot assists)\nMarvel Two-in-One #53–58, 60–72 (July 1979 – February 1981) – (co-writer #53-58, 60, 64–72)\nThor #299–302, 304–307 (September 1980 – May 1981) – (co-writer)\nWhat If? #25–28 (February 1981 – August 1981) – (Eternals story)\nThor #311–314 (September 1981 – December 1981) – (Tales of Asgard story; co-writer)\nMarvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1–3 (June 1982 – August 1982) – (limited series; co-writer)\nOfficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1–15 (January 1983 – March 1984) – (limited series; co-writer #4–14)\nHawkeye #1–4 (September 1983 – December 1983) – (limited series)\nCaptain America #307–422, 424–443, Annual #8, 10-12 (July 1985 – September 1995)\nSquadron Supreme #1–12 (September 1985 – August 1986) – (limited series)\nThe Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 2) #1–20 (December 1985 – March 1987) – (limited series; co-writer)\nD.P.7 #1–32, Annual #1 (November 1986 – June 1989)\nThe Pitt (March 1988) – (one-shot; co-writer)\nThe Draft (July 1988) – (one-shot; co-writer)\n\"The Saga of the High Evolutionary: Parts 1–11\" (1988) – (back-up story in most 1988 Marvel Annuals)\nSquadron Supreme: Death of a Universe (1989) – (one-shot)\nQuasar #1–58, 60 (October 1989 – July 1994)\nThe Avengers #319–324 (July 1990 – October 1990) – (Avengers Crew story)\nU.S. Agent #1–4 (June 1993 – September 1993) – (limited series)\nAvengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1–4 (September 1993 – December 1993) – (limited series)\nStarblast #1–4 (January 1994 – April 1994) – (limited series)\nStarmasters #1–3 (December 1995 – February 1996) – (limited series)\nCombo Man #1 (January 1996) – (one-shot)\nCaptain America: The Legend #1 (September 1996) – (one-shot)\nThor: The Legend #1 (September 1996) – (one-shot)\n\nFill-in writer\nThor #281–282 (March 1979 – April 1979) – (co-writer)\nThe Defenders #77 (November 1979) – (co-writer)\nThe Avengers #185–187 (July 1979 – September 1979) – (co-writer)\nThe Avengers #189 (November 1979) – (co-writer)\n\"The First Celestial Host!\" What If? #23 (October 1980) – (Celestials story)\nThe Amazing Spider-Man #208 (September 1980) – (co-writer)\nROM #24 (November 1981) – (co-writer)\nMarvel Team-Up #113 (January 1982)\n\"Gore Galore.\" Bizarre Adventures #31 (April 1982) – (Hangman story)\nWhat If? #32 (April 1982) – (Avengers story)\nThe Defenders #108–109 (June 1982 – July 1982) – (co-writer)\n\"The Prophet.\" Bizarre Adventures #32 (August 1982) – (Aquarian story)\nWhat If? #34 (August 1982) – (co-writer)\nMarvel Team-Up Annual #5 (1982)\nROM Annual #1 (1982) – (co-writer)\nThor Annual #10 (1982) – (co-writer)\nBizarre Adventures #34 (February 1983)\n\"What if the Universe Ceased to Exist?\" What If? #43 (February 1984)\nFantastic Four Annual #18 (November 1984) – (co-writer)\nDaredevil #234 (September 1986)\nKickers, Inc. #5 (March 1987) – (co-writer)\nNew Mutants Annual #4 (1988)\nJustice #15 (January 1988) – (co-writer)\nThe Avengers #290 (April 1988) – (co-writer)\nWest Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #40 (January 1989)\n\"The Initiation of Quasar.\" The Avengers Annual #18 (1989) – (Quasar story)\n\"Inferno Aftermath.\" X-Factor Annual #4 (1989)\n\"Rate the Hunks.\" Avengers West Coast Annual #4 (1989)\n\"It Came From Within.\" Marvel Comics Presents #29 (October 1989) – (Quasar story)\n\"The Savior of Lost Artifacts.\" Fantastic Four Annual #22 (1989)\n\"Acts of Vengeance: Epilogue.\" Avengers Annual #19 (1990)\n\"Girls Don't Wanna Have Fun!\" Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #1 (August 1990) – (Quasar story; co-writer)\nThe Avengers #325 (October 1990)\n\"Brothers.\" Captain America Annual #10 (1991) – (Bushmaster story)\n\"Test Flight.\" Captain America Annual #11 (1992) – (Falcon story; co-writer)\nFantastic Four Annual #25 (1992) – (Citizen Kang, Part 3)\nAvengers Annual #21 (1992) – (Citizen Kang, Part 4)\nFantastic Four Annual #27 (1994)\nOver the Edge #2 (December 1995) – (Doctor Strange story)\nFantastic Four: The Legend #1 (October 1996) – (one-shot)\nSensational Spider-Man '96 #1 (November 1996) – (Spider-Woman story; one-shot)\nNew Mutants Annual #4\n\nPenciller\nWhat If? #32 (April 1982) – (Avengers story; co-penciller; inks also)\nWhat If? #34 (August 1982) – (co-penciller)\nMarvel Team-Up Annual #5 (1982)\nThe Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #279 (January 1983)\nHawkeye #1–4 (September 1983 – December 1983) – (limited series)\n\"What if the Universe Ceased to Exist?\" What If? #43 (February 1984)\nQuestprobe #1 (August 1984)\n\nEditor-in-Chief\n\nFantastic Four #397–410 (December 1994 – January 1996)\nNamor the Sub-Mariner #60–62 (January 1995 – March 1995)\nFantastic Force #5–17 (January 1995 – January 1996)\nForce Works #9–19 (March 1995 – January 1996)\nSilver Surfer vol. 3 #102–105 (March 1995 – June 1995)\n\nExecutive Editor\nThe War #1–4 (June 1989 – March 1990)\n\nEditor\nWhat If? #17–18 (October 1979 – December 1979)\nMan-Thing #1–3 (November 1979 – March 1980)\nFantastic Four #216–217 (March 1980 – April 1980)\nMarvel Treasury Edition #25 (June 1980) – (Hulk and Spider-Man story)\nIron Man #160–232 (July 1982 – July 1988)\nCaptain America #272–288 (August 1982 – December 1983)\nCaptain America #290–306 (February 1984 – June 1985)\nCaptain America Annual #6–7 (1982–1983)\nThor #322–338 (August 1982 – December 1983)\nThor #340–354 (February 1984 – April 1985)\nThor #356 (June 1985)\nThor Annual #10–13 (1982–1985)\nThe Avengers #223–242 (September 1982 – April 1984)\nAvengers Annual #11–17 (1982–1988)\nHercules #1–4 (September 1982 – December 1982)\nMarvel Two-in-One #91 (September 1982)\nSpider-Woman #46–50 (October 1982 – June 1983)\nWhat If? #35–37 (October 1982 – February 1983)\nThe Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1–4 (November 1982 – February 1983) – (limited series)\nOfficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1–15 (January 1983 – May 1984) – (limited series)\nWest Coast Avengers #1–4 (September 1984 – January 1985) – (limited series)\nThe Avengers #252–303 (February 1985 – May 1989)\nThe Thing #23–36 (May 1985 – June 1986)\nWest Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1–35 (October 1985 – August 1988)\nWest Coast Avengers Annual #1–3 (1986–1988)\nThe Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe vol. 2 #1–20 (December 1985 – February 1988) – (limited series)\nThe X-Men vs. The Avengers #1–4 (April 1987 – July 1987)\nSolo Avengers #1–20 (December 1987 – July 1989)\nAvengers Spotlight #21–40 (August 1989 – January 1991)\nNick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #1–6 (June 1988 – November 1988) – (limited series)\nBlack Panther vol. 2 #1–4 (July 1988 – October 1988) – (limited series)\nThe Star Brand #14 (July 1988)\nWolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989) – (graphic novel)\nCaptain Marvel vol. 2 #1 (November 1989) – (one-shot)\nInhumans Special #1 (April 1990) – (one-shot)\nMarvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #1–2 (May 1990 – July 1990)\nX-Men Spotlight on... Starjammers #1–2 (May 1990 – June 1990) – (limited series)\nBlack Knight #1–4 (June 1990 – September 1990) – (limited series)\nThe Avengers #382 (January 1995)\nRune/Silver Surfer #1 (Malibu Comics/Marvel Comics, April 1995) – (one-shot)\nCosmic Powers Unlimited #1–5 (May 1995 – May 1996)\nInhumans: The Great Refuge #1 (May 1995) – (one-shot)\nSilver Surfer (vol. 3) #106–122 (July 1995 – November 1996)\nThunderstrike #23 (August 1995)\nLunatik #1–3 (December 1995 – February 1996) – (limited series)\nCaptain Marvel #1–6 (December 1995 – May 1996)\nDC Versus Marvel/Marvel Versus DC #1–4 (DC Comics/Marvel Comics, February 1996 – May 1996)\nThe Avengers #398–402 (May 1996 – September 1996)\nIron Man #328–332 (May 1996 – September 1996)\nAvengers Unplugged #5–6 (June 1996 – August 1996)\nUncanny Origins #1–2 (September 1996 – October 1996)\nIncredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1 (October 1996) – (one-shot)\nJourney into Mystery #503–505 (November 1996 – January 1997)\nBatman/Captain America (DC Comics/Marvel Comics, December 1996) – (one-shot)\nSilver Surfer/Superman #1 (DC Comics/Marvel Comics, January 1997) – (one-shot)\nSuperman/Fantastic Four (DC Comics/Marvel Comics, April 1999) – (one-shot)\n\nAssistant Editor\nJohn Carter, Warlord of Mars #14 (July 1978)\nWhat If? #11–16 (October 1978 – August 1979)\nHoward the Duck #30 (March 1979)\nBattlestar Galactica #1–2 (March 1979 – April 1979)\nMarvel Preview #19 (Summer 1979)\nWhat If? #19–28 (February 1980 – August 1981)\nConan the Barbarian #113–115 (August 1980 – October 1980)\nWhat If? #31 (February 1982)\n\nColorist\n \"Out of His Skull\" Captain America #369 (April 1990) – (Red Skull story)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMark Gruenwald's Facebook page\n\nMark Gruenwald at Mike's Amazing World of Comics\nMark Gruenwald at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators\n\n1953 births\n1996 deaths\nAmerican comics artists\nAmerican comics writers\nComic book editors\nMarvel Comics people\nPeople from Oshkosh, Wisconsin"
]
|
[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries."
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries? | 2 | What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
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DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"Ariel Olivetti (born November 15, 1967) is an Argentine comic book penciller best known for his work on American comic book titles such as Daredevil, X-Man, Space Ghost and Punisher War Journal.\n\nCareer\nOlivetti studied Graphic Design in college and first had his work published in the Argentine magazine Fierro.\n\nHis first work in USA was 1995's The Last Avengers Story, which was written by Peter David and published by Marvel Comics. He went on to have a brief stint as regular penciller on Marvel's Daredevil between 1997 and 1998, where he worked with writer Joe Kelly. His next major work was in 1998 when he worked with writer Steven Grant on the Warren Ellis devised \"Counter X\" revamp of Marvel's X-Man title. In 2005 he again collaborated with Joe Kelly on DC Comics Space Ghost limited series which revealed the character's origins for the first time.\n\nOther titles he has worked on include Mystique and Sabretooth (1996), Alpha Flight (1997) and What If? (1997) at Marvel and JLA: Paradise Lost (1998), Haven: The Broken City (2002), Green Lantern (2003) and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2006) at DC. In 1999, he collaborated with writer Mark Waid on The Kingdom (illustrating issue #1, with Mike Zeck illustrating issue #2), a sequel to Kingdom Come.\n\nIn 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics and launched the second volume of Punisher War Journal with writer Matt Fraction. Olivetti did art on the first ten numbers. Other work for Marvel includes the Cable (vol. 2) ongoing series that debuted in March 2008, and more recently, Incredible Hulk, and Namor (vol. 3).\n\nThroughout his career Olivetti has worked in different mediums, including black and white, digital color, acrylics and oils. Olivetti himself declared having been influenced by artists like Richard Corben, Simon Bisley and his fellow countryman Mauro Cascioli \n\nIn 2012 he collaborated with the comic book Hero Seeds, drawing two covers of the comics and several drawings in the same comics.\n\nBibliography\n\nDC\n\nBatman: Legends of the Dark Knight #207-211 (along with Mauro Cascioli, 2006)\nDCU: Brave New World #1 (among other artists) (2006)\nElseworlds 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (1999)\nFlash, vol. 2, 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (1998)\nFuture Quest Presents (Space Ghost) #1-3 (2017)\nG.I. Combat, vol. 2, #1 (2012)\nHaven The Broken City, miniseries, #1-9 (2002)\nJLA (Martian Manhunter) Annual #1 (1997)\nJLA:\nParadise Lost, miniseries, #1-3 (1998)\nPrimeval (1999)\nJLA/Haven:Arrival (2002)Anathema (2002)JLA Showcase 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (2000)The Kingdom, 2-part miniseries, #1 (1999)Lobo #63-64 (1999)Martian Manhunter Annual #1 (1998)Space Ghost, miniseries, #1-6 (2005)Superman, vol. 2, #179 (2002)Superman Returns Prequel, 4-part miniseries, #1 (2006)Superman Secret Files and Origins 2005 (2006)\n\nDC / Dark HorseSuperman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predators, miniseries, #1-2 (2007)\n\nMarvelAlpha Flight, vol. 2, #11 (1997)Cable, vol. 2, #1-15 (2008–09)Daredevil (full art): #369, 371-372, 374; (among other artists): #375 (1997–98)\n Death of the Inhumans, miniseries, #1 (2018)Hercules: Fall of an Avenger, miniseries, #1-2 (2010)Incredible Hulk #601-605 (2009–10)Iron Man 2.0 #4-5, 8 (2011)Last Avengers Story, miniseries, #1-2 (1995)Mystique and Sabretooth, miniseries, #1-4 (1996–97)Namor, vol. 3, #1-3, 5 (2010-11)Punisher War Journal, vol. 2, #1-3, 5-10 (2007)Thor: Heaven & Earth, miniseries, #1 (2011)Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Man, one-shot (among other artists) (2007)What If? #88 (1996)X-Men: Declassified #1 (among other artists) (2000)X-Men Unlimited #12 (along with Steve Epting) (1996)X-Man #38 (with ChrisCross); #63, 66-73 (2000–01)X-Force #107 (2000)X-Factor, vol. 2, #7 (2006)Venom - Space Knight #1-4 (2015-16)\n\nOther publishersBrutal Nature: Concrete Fury, miniseries, #1-4 (IDW, 2017)Conan and the People of the Black Circle, miniseries, #1-4 (Dark Horse, 2013-14) El Cazador de Aventuras #1-65 (gone along with Jorge Lucas, Mauro Cascioli and Claudio Ramírez) (Ediciones de la Urraca - Argentina, 1992–99)Fierro #?-? (Ediciones de la Urraca) ICH: Naturaleza Salvaje'' (Yermo Ediciones, 2016)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nOlivetti's Yahoo fan club \n\nPeople from Buenos Aires\n1967 births\nLiving people\nArgentine comics artists",
"Marvel Studios: Legends is an American television docuseries created for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics characters and objects that appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Each episode showcases an individual character or object with footage from past MCU films, highlighting their prominent moments from the MCU.\n\nThe series was first announced in December 2020. Marvel Studios: Legends premiered on January 8, 2021, with subsequent episodes releasing shortly before a Disney+ series' premiere or a film's initial release. It received positive responses for being helpful to casual viewers of the franchise, but criticism for being a clip show with no new footage or documentary elements.\n\nPremise \nThe series examines individual heroes, villains, moments, and objects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and how they connect, in anticipation of the upcoming stories that will feature them in the Disney+ Phase Four series and films.\n\nBackground \nMarvel Studios: Legends was announced in December 2020 as a new series that would revisit characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ahead of their appearances in new Disney+ series as part of Phase Four of the MCU. Two episodes were initially announced, with one for Wanda Maximoff and one for Vision ahead of their roles in WandaVision. Upon its announcement, many commentators believed the series would be a clip show and a good way to remind viewers of a character's history and allow casual viewers a quick way to catch-up without watching hours of past MCU content. Chaim Gartenberg at The Verge also likened the series to the one-page recaps Marvel Comics uses to similarly catch readers up for ongoing stories.\n\nThe series features short episodes made up of footage from past MCU films that featured the highlighted character, moment, or object. Collider Matt Goldberg felt Marvel Studios: Legends did not cost Disney or Marvel Studios \"anything more than some editor's work and a bit of music\" to produce given each episode's length and content. In February 2021, after the announcement of the fellow Marvel Studios docuseries Marvel Studios: Assembled, some commentators called Assembled a companion series to Legends, since Assembled presents behind the scenes material after a MCU film or series. Also in the month, episodes for Falcon, Winter Soldier, Zemo, and Sharon Carter were announced ahead of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.\n\nIn May 2021, before the release of Loki, episodes for Loki and the Tesseract were announced. The following month, an episode for Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow was announced ahead of the character's appearance in the Phase Four film Black Widow (2021), which was set to be made available on Disney+ with Premier Access. In July, episodes for Peggy Carter, the Avengers Initiative, and the Ravagers were announced, ahead of their appearances in the series What If...?. In August, before the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, an episode for the Ten Rings organization was announced. In October, an episode for Clint Barton / Hawkeye was announced to debut for Disney+'s \"Disney+ Day\" celebration, ahead of the character's appearance in Hawkeye.\n\nEpisodes\n\nRelease \nMarvel Studios: Legends released its first two episodes on January 8, 2021 on Disney+. Additional episodes were released before a character's appearance in a Disney+ series or film.\n\nReception \nMatt Goldberg at Collider described Legends as \"elaborate fan videos that offer cross-promotion\" for Marvel, which he did not think was bad but he did wish that the series \"offered up something new\", such as actors \"talking about their characters or offering a fresh teaser for\" what was being promoted. He concluded that Legends was \"content to be a highly produced recap video\". Charlie Ridgely, writing for ComicBook.com, called Legends \"incredibly handy\" given there had not been any new MCU content in 2020. While conceding viewers already familiar with the highlighted character's stories might not see the need for the episodes since they were \"quite literally just a recap of what happened in the movies\", he felt it was still \"a great refresher\" for viewers interested in the new Marvel Disney+ content who \"maybe aren't as into the greater MCU... allow[ing] everyone to be on a similar page\". Variety Caroline Framke felt Marvel was anticipating confusion from casual MCU viewers during their new Disney+ series, and called Legends \"pretty helpful\" heading into WandaVision. Some viewers were disappointed in the series, expecting a more in-depth documentary with creatives providing interviews rather than a clip show.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n at Marvel.com\n \n \n\n2020s American documentary television series\n2020s American television miniseries\n2021 American television series debuts\nAmerican documentary television series\nClip shows\nDisney+ original programming\nEnglish-language television shows\nMarvel Cinematic Universe television series\nTelevision series by Marvel Studios"
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"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries.",
"What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries?",
"re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story."
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| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | What else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries? | 3 | Besides relaunching the Captain Marvel mythos, what else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
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Characters created by C. C. Beck
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DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"Ariel Olivetti (born November 15, 1967) is an Argentine comic book penciller best known for his work on American comic book titles such as Daredevil, X-Man, Space Ghost and Punisher War Journal.\n\nCareer\nOlivetti studied Graphic Design in college and first had his work published in the Argentine magazine Fierro.\n\nHis first work in USA was 1995's The Last Avengers Story, which was written by Peter David and published by Marvel Comics. He went on to have a brief stint as regular penciller on Marvel's Daredevil between 1997 and 1998, where he worked with writer Joe Kelly. His next major work was in 1998 when he worked with writer Steven Grant on the Warren Ellis devised \"Counter X\" revamp of Marvel's X-Man title. In 2005 he again collaborated with Joe Kelly on DC Comics Space Ghost limited series which revealed the character's origins for the first time.\n\nOther titles he has worked on include Mystique and Sabretooth (1996), Alpha Flight (1997) and What If? (1997) at Marvel and JLA: Paradise Lost (1998), Haven: The Broken City (2002), Green Lantern (2003) and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2006) at DC. In 1999, he collaborated with writer Mark Waid on The Kingdom (illustrating issue #1, with Mike Zeck illustrating issue #2), a sequel to Kingdom Come.\n\nIn 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics and launched the second volume of Punisher War Journal with writer Matt Fraction. Olivetti did art on the first ten numbers. Other work for Marvel includes the Cable (vol. 2) ongoing series that debuted in March 2008, and more recently, Incredible Hulk, and Namor (vol. 3).\n\nThroughout his career Olivetti has worked in different mediums, including black and white, digital color, acrylics and oils. Olivetti himself declared having been influenced by artists like Richard Corben, Simon Bisley and his fellow countryman Mauro Cascioli \n\nIn 2012 he collaborated with the comic book Hero Seeds, drawing two covers of the comics and several drawings in the same comics.\n\nBibliography\n\nDC\n\nBatman: Legends of the Dark Knight #207-211 (along with Mauro Cascioli, 2006)\nDCU: Brave New World #1 (among other artists) (2006)\nElseworlds 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (1999)\nFlash, vol. 2, 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (1998)\nFuture Quest Presents (Space Ghost) #1-3 (2017)\nG.I. Combat, vol. 2, #1 (2012)\nHaven The Broken City, miniseries, #1-9 (2002)\nJLA (Martian Manhunter) Annual #1 (1997)\nJLA:\nParadise Lost, miniseries, #1-3 (1998)\nPrimeval (1999)\nJLA/Haven:Arrival (2002)Anathema (2002)JLA Showcase 80-Page Giant #1 (among other artists) (2000)The Kingdom, 2-part miniseries, #1 (1999)Lobo #63-64 (1999)Martian Manhunter Annual #1 (1998)Space Ghost, miniseries, #1-6 (2005)Superman, vol. 2, #179 (2002)Superman Returns Prequel, 4-part miniseries, #1 (2006)Superman Secret Files and Origins 2005 (2006)\n\nDC / Dark HorseSuperman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predators, miniseries, #1-2 (2007)\n\nMarvelAlpha Flight, vol. 2, #11 (1997)Cable, vol. 2, #1-15 (2008–09)Daredevil (full art): #369, 371-372, 374; (among other artists): #375 (1997–98)\n Death of the Inhumans, miniseries, #1 (2018)Hercules: Fall of an Avenger, miniseries, #1-2 (2010)Incredible Hulk #601-605 (2009–10)Iron Man 2.0 #4-5, 8 (2011)Last Avengers Story, miniseries, #1-2 (1995)Mystique and Sabretooth, miniseries, #1-4 (1996–97)Namor, vol. 3, #1-3, 5 (2010-11)Punisher War Journal, vol. 2, #1-3, 5-10 (2007)Thor: Heaven & Earth, miniseries, #1 (2011)Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Man, one-shot (among other artists) (2007)What If? #88 (1996)X-Men: Declassified #1 (among other artists) (2000)X-Men Unlimited #12 (along with Steve Epting) (1996)X-Man #38 (with ChrisCross); #63, 66-73 (2000–01)X-Force #107 (2000)X-Factor, vol. 2, #7 (2006)Venom - Space Knight #1-4 (2015-16)\n\nOther publishersBrutal Nature: Concrete Fury, miniseries, #1-4 (IDW, 2017)Conan and the People of the Black Circle, miniseries, #1-4 (Dark Horse, 2013-14) El Cazador de Aventuras #1-65 (gone along with Jorge Lucas, Mauro Cascioli and Claudio Ramírez) (Ediciones de la Urraca - Argentina, 1992–99)Fierro #?-? (Ediciones de la Urraca) ICH: Naturaleza Salvaje'' (Yermo Ediciones, 2016)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nOlivetti's Yahoo fan club \n\nPeople from Buenos Aires\n1967 births\nLiving people\nArgentine comics artists",
"Marvel Studios: Legends is an American television docuseries created for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics characters and objects that appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Each episode showcases an individual character or object with footage from past MCU films, highlighting their prominent moments from the MCU.\n\nThe series was first announced in December 2020. Marvel Studios: Legends premiered on January 8, 2021, with subsequent episodes releasing shortly before a Disney+ series' premiere or a film's initial release. It received positive responses for being helpful to casual viewers of the franchise, but criticism for being a clip show with no new footage or documentary elements.\n\nPremise \nThe series examines individual heroes, villains, moments, and objects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and how they connect, in anticipation of the upcoming stories that will feature them in the Disney+ Phase Four series and films.\n\nBackground \nMarvel Studios: Legends was announced in December 2020 as a new series that would revisit characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ahead of their appearances in new Disney+ series as part of Phase Four of the MCU. Two episodes were initially announced, with one for Wanda Maximoff and one for Vision ahead of their roles in WandaVision. Upon its announcement, many commentators believed the series would be a clip show and a good way to remind viewers of a character's history and allow casual viewers a quick way to catch-up without watching hours of past MCU content. Chaim Gartenberg at The Verge also likened the series to the one-page recaps Marvel Comics uses to similarly catch readers up for ongoing stories.\n\nThe series features short episodes made up of footage from past MCU films that featured the highlighted character, moment, or object. Collider Matt Goldberg felt Marvel Studios: Legends did not cost Disney or Marvel Studios \"anything more than some editor's work and a bit of music\" to produce given each episode's length and content. In February 2021, after the announcement of the fellow Marvel Studios docuseries Marvel Studios: Assembled, some commentators called Assembled a companion series to Legends, since Assembled presents behind the scenes material after a MCU film or series. Also in the month, episodes for Falcon, Winter Soldier, Zemo, and Sharon Carter were announced ahead of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.\n\nIn May 2021, before the release of Loki, episodes for Loki and the Tesseract were announced. The following month, an episode for Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow was announced ahead of the character's appearance in the Phase Four film Black Widow (2021), which was set to be made available on Disney+ with Premier Access. In July, episodes for Peggy Carter, the Avengers Initiative, and the Ravagers were announced, ahead of their appearances in the series What If...?. In August, before the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, an episode for the Ten Rings organization was announced. In October, an episode for Clint Barton / Hawkeye was announced to debut for Disney+'s \"Disney+ Day\" celebration, ahead of the character's appearance in Hawkeye.\n\nEpisodes\n\nRelease \nMarvel Studios: Legends released its first two episodes on January 8, 2021 on Disney+. Additional episodes were released before a character's appearance in a Disney+ series or film.\n\nReception \nMatt Goldberg at Collider described Legends as \"elaborate fan videos that offer cross-promotion\" for Marvel, which he did not think was bad but he did wish that the series \"offered up something new\", such as actors \"talking about their characters or offering a fresh teaser for\" what was being promoted. He concluded that Legends was \"content to be a highly produced recap video\". Charlie Ridgely, writing for ComicBook.com, called Legends \"incredibly handy\" given there had not been any new MCU content in 2020. While conceding viewers already familiar with the highlighted character's stories might not see the need for the episodes since they were \"quite literally just a recap of what happened in the movies\", he felt it was still \"a great refresher\" for viewers interested in the new Marvel Disney+ content who \"maybe aren't as into the greater MCU... allow[ing] everyone to be on a similar page\". Variety Caroline Framke felt Marvel was anticipating confusion from casual MCU viewers during their new Disney+ series, and called Legends \"pretty helpful\" heading into WandaVision. Some viewers were disappointed in the series, expecting a more in-depth documentary with creatives providing interviews rather than a clip show.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n at Marvel.com\n \n \n\n2020s American documentary television series\n2020s American television miniseries\n2021 American television series debuts\nAmerican documentary television series\nClip shows\nDisney+ original programming\nEnglish-language television shows\nMarvel Cinematic Universe television series\nTelevision series by Marvel Studios"
]
|
[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries.",
"What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries?",
"re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.",
"What else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries?",
"Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain."
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | Does the Billy Batson character get developed in the 1980s? | 4 | Does the Billy Batson character get developed in the 1980s? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
American comics characters
Characters created by Bill Parker (comics)
Characters created by C. C. Beck
Comics characters introduced in 1939
Superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics American superheroes
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics child superheroes
Child superheroes
DC Comics film characters
Fictional orphans
DC Comics orphans
Fictional characters granted magic or power through dealings
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional radio personalities
Fictional twins
Film serial characters
Golden Age superheroes
Male characters in film
Marvel Family
Rapid human age change in fiction
Superheroes who are adopted
Superheroes with alter egos
DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! was an all-ages comic book series published by DC Comics as a part of its Johnny DC imprint. The series debuted in September 2008, and was originally written and drawn by Mike Kunkel.\n\nOverview\nIn style and tone, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! is a follow-up to Jeff Smith's 2007 miniseries Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, as both draw upon the light, whimsical feel of the Captain Marvel comics of the Golden Age for inspiration. In Magic of Shazam!, Billy Batson is a young boy who must juggle his superheroic life as Captain Marvel with looking after his rambunctious little sister Mary Marvel. Unlike Billy, who transforms into an adult when he speaks the magic word \"Shazam\", Mary possesses only a fraction of his power, although she is faster, and remains a child in her superhero form. Tawky Tawny, a shapeshifting servant of the wizard Shazam, assists them and comes to live with them at their insistence when his form is later fixed as a humanoid tiger. Other Marvel Family characters are similarly re-imagined, such as Black Adam who is presented as bratty exchange student Theo Adam, a classmate of Billy. In their clashes, a boy, Freddy Freeman, is accidentally seriously injured and paralysed and blamed the Marvels for it. Black Adam exploited that hate to recruit him with his power as Black Adam Jr. until the boy realizes the villain's evil and reconciled with the Marvels, which led to Captain Marvel bestowing him a portion of his power to become Captain Marvel Jr.\n\nCollected editions\n Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (collects #1–6)\n Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!: Mr. Mind Over Matter (collects #7–12)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial blog for Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! by Mike Kunkel\n\nReviews\n\nBilly Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1 review, Comic Book Resources\nBilly Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1 review, IGN\nBilly Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1 review, Newsarama\n\n2008 comics debuts\nCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Uncle Marvel (Dudley H. Dudley) is a fictional comic book character, originally created for Fawcett Comics, and today owned by DC Comics, who appears in stories about the Marvel Family team of superheroes.\n\nPublication history\nCreated by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze, Uncle Marvel was created primarily as a supporting character of Mary Marvel and first appeared in Wow Comics #18 in October 1943.\n\nFictional character biography\nAn old, rotund man named Dudley, Uncle Marvel did not have any real superpowers. He found Mary Batson's good deed ledger, which she kept to record her good deeds. She had accidentally dropped the ledger, and Dudley read it, learning her secret. Claiming to be the uncle of Mary Batson, Mary Marvel's teenage alter-ego, from California, Dudley attempted to con his way into the Marvel Family. The Marvels, possessing the wisdom of Solomon, saw through Dudley's machinations, but since he was, in their opinion such a \"lovable old fraud\", they allowed Dudley to join the team as their manager Uncle Marvel and humored his pretense of having Marvel powers. When asked to make use of his supposed superpowers, Dudley would always complain that his \"shazambago\" was acting up and was interfering with his powers, though the Marvels always knew better.\n\nThough mostly played as comic relief, Dudley plays a key role in Marvel Family #1 as he tricks the rogue Marvel Black Adam (debuting in that story) into saying the magic word \"Shazam\" and reverting to his mortal self. In Mary Marvel #7, after Mary stops some thugs, Dudley makes Mary promise not to turn into Mary Marvel until midnight, to show that she is helpless without Mary Marvel. He then sends two men to rob the office, not knowing they are actual criminals who kidnap Mary and try to hold her for ransom. The criminals attempt to force Dudley to write a ransom note, but midnight arrives and Mary transforms into Mary Marvel to stop them.\n\nUncle Marvel continued to appear in the Marvel Family stories through 1948, at which time the character was quietly dropped. He returned to the Marvel Family comics when DC Comics began publishing new stories and reprints under the title Shazam! in 1973, he was put into suspended animation, along with many other Fawcett characters, explained as an attack gone wrong by the Sivana family. He again takes over Shazam Incorporated. After forty years of appearing in the Marvel Family comics, Uncle Dudley was revamped in 1987 along with the rest of the Shazam! franchise. In Roy Thomas and Tom Mandrake's four-issue 1987 miniseries Shazam!: The New Beginning, the character became Dudley Batson, an actual blood uncle of young Billy Batson, Captain Marvel's alter-ego.\n\nA second revamped version of Uncle Marvel was introduced in Jerry Ordway's Power of Shazam! graphic novel in 1994 and a resulting ongoing comic book series of the same name, rendering Thomas and Mandrake's version non-canonical. In Ordway's stories, Dudley H. Dudley is the janitor at Billy Batson's school, who looks out for the homeless boy and inadvertently learns that Billy is also the alter ego of Captain Marvel. This revelation leads Dudley to be involved in a number of Marvel Family adventures, including one story (The Power of Shazam! #11 and #12) in which Dudley temporarily gains superpowers (and the \"Uncle Marvel\" costume of the original version of the character) thanks to Ibis the Invincible. Dudley continued to appear in The Power of Shazam! for the duration of the series as a recurring supporting character, often paired with Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic tiger friend of Captain Marvel's who becomes Dudley's roommate.\n\nFollowing the cancellation of The Power of Shazam! in 1999, \"Uncle\" Dudley virtually disappeared from DC Comics publications, save for a short cameo in 52 #16 at the wedding of Marvel Family related characters Black Adam and Isis and two brief cameos in Jerry Ordway-illustrated issues of Justice Society of America in 2009 (Vol. 3, #24 and #28). Uncle Dudley was more prominently featured in the two-issue Convergence tie-in Convergence: Shazam! in 2015, as well as a brief cameo in the \"Thunderworld\" issue - issue #4 - of Grant Morrison's miniseries The Multiversity.\n\nIn other media\n\nTelevision\n A live-action Shazam! television series, which aired on CBS Saturday mornings from 1974 to 1976, featured Captain Marvel and his young alter-ego Billy Batson, accompanied by an old man known as Mentor. The Mentor character was loosely based upon Uncle Marvel, who in concurrent 1970s issues of the Shazam! comic book began sporting a mustache to resemble Les Tremayne, the actor who appeared as \"Mentor\" on the Shazam! TV show.\n Uncle Marvel appeared alongside the rest of the Marvel Family in The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! voiced by Alan Oppenheimer.\n Uncle Dudley appears in the Young Justice episodes \"Alpha Male\" and \"Misplaced\" voiced by Corey Burton. He is Billy Batson's guardian. Captain Marvel tells him about his adventures before reverting to Billy Batson and heading to bed. In \"Misplaced\", he makes a cameo where he worries about Billy's disappearance at the time when Klarion the Witch Boy, Blackbriar Thorn, Wotan, Felix Faust, and Wizard used a temporary reality spell that separated the children from the adults.\n Uncle Dudley appears in the Justice League Action episode \"Captain Bamboozle\", voiced by John Astin, the father of Sean, Shazam’s voice actor. In this incarnation, his powers are given to him by Mister Mxyzptlk.\n\nFilm\n An evil, alternate version of Uncle Marvel appears as a villain in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. This version has a full set of Marvel Family superpowers. According to the credits, he is named Uncle Super and voiced by Bruce Timm.\n Uncle Dudley appears in Lego DC Shazam: Magic and Monsters as one of Billy Batson's relatives.\n\nReferences\n\nMarvel Family\nComics characters introduced in 1943\nComic book sidekicks\nCharacters created by Otto Binder\nDC Comics superheroes\nDC Comics male superheroes"
]
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[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries.",
"What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries?",
"re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.",
"What else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries?",
"Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain.",
"Does the Billy Batson character get developed in the 1980s?",
"This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction"
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | What was the traditional depiction of the character? | 5 | What was the traditional depiction of Billy Batson? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
American comics characters
Characters created by Bill Parker (comics)
Characters created by C. C. Beck
Comics characters introduced in 1939
Superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics American superheroes
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics child superheroes
Child superheroes
DC Comics film characters
Fictional orphans
DC Comics orphans
Fictional characters granted magic or power through dealings
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional radio personalities
Fictional twins
Film serial characters
Golden Age superheroes
Male characters in film
Marvel Family
Rapid human age change in fiction
Superheroes who are adopted
Superheroes with alter egos
DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"There Was a Crooked Man is a nursery rhyme. The phrase can also refer to:\n\nThere Was a Crooked Man (film), 1960 film featuring Norman Wisdom\nThere Was A Crooked Man (play), a live television drama by Kelly Roos, presented in 1950 on the television anthology Westinghouse Studio One\nThere Was a Crooked Man..., a 1970 western film starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda\nThere was a Crooked Man: the Poems of Lex Banning, a collection by Lex Banning\n\nSee also\n\"There Is a Crooked Man\", a Jack Wodhams short story.\nA depiction of the Crooked Man appears as the main antagonist in The Wolf Among Us.\nAnother depiction of the Crooked Man plays the role of the titular character and main antagonist in The Crooked Man.\nAnother depiction of the Crooked Man appears as a demonic antagonist of the 2016 horror film The Conjuring 2.\nThe Crooked Man, a 2012 indie horror video game.",
"Sasha Masha is a coming of age young adult novel by Agnes Borinsky, published November 10, 2020 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It tells the story of a teenager Jewish girl who, with the help of members the queer community, tries to figure out who her true self is.\n\nThe book was shortlisted in 2021 for a Lambda Literary Award.\n\nReception \nA review for the School Library Journal notes that the most interesting aspect of Borinsky's novel is its depiction of the \"mental turmoil through [the main character's] neurotic, repetitive meditations on himself, the world, and what makes people 'Real.'\" Despite that, the SLJ review was mostly critic of the novel, calling the plot \"meandering\", and mentioning the depiction of a drag queen as \"verging on caricature\". Kirkus Reviews commented on how the LGBT community and its history play a part on Masha's revelation of self and called the book a \"sensitive and vulnerable story of self-growth.\"\n\nThe Booklist, which reviewed an audio version of the novel, said the author's \"emotional connection with Sasha Masha creates a visceral listening experience\" but criticized the tone used throughout the novel, which made it harder to tell which character was speaking at times.\n\nSasha Masha was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (2021).\n\nReferences \n\n2020 debut novels\n2020s LGBT novels\nJewish novels\nFarrar, Straus and Giroux books\nNovels with transgender themes"
]
|
[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries.",
"What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries?",
"re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.",
"What else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries?",
"Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain.",
"Does the Billy Batson character get developed in the 1980s?",
"This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction",
"What was the traditional depiction of the character?",
"instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities."
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | Did anything else happen for Captain Marvel in the late 1980s? | 6 | Besides the traditional depiction of Batson, did anything else happen for Captain Marvel in the late 1980s? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
American comics characters
Characters created by Bill Parker (comics)
Characters created by C. C. Beck
Comics characters introduced in 1939
Superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics American superheroes
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics child superheroes
Child superheroes
DC Comics film characters
Fictional orphans
DC Comics orphans
Fictional characters granted magic or power through dealings
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional radio personalities
Fictional twins
Film serial characters
Golden Age superheroes
Male characters in film
Marvel Family
Rapid human age change in fiction
Superheroes who are adopted
Superheroes with alter egos
DC Comics male superheroes | false | [
"was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics (also known as Detective Comics and DC Comics) and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel character being an infringement on the copyright of National's Superman comic book character. The litigation is notable as one of the longest-running legal battles in comic book publication history.\n\nThe suit resulted in Fawcett Publications shuttering the Fawcett Comics division and cancelling all of its superhero-related publications, including those featuring Captain Marvel and related characters. In the 1970s, National, rebranded as DC Comics, licensed the rights to Captain Marvel and revived the character. DC Comics then purchased the rights completely by 1991.\n\nHistory\n\nPre-trial\n\nCaptain Marvel was not the first superhero comic book character, or even the first Fawcett superhero character, to be the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit. In 1939, Detective Comics and its rights-holding sister company Superman, Inc. had filed suit against Fox Feature Syndicate for their Superman-like hero Wonder Man, and filed against Fawcett the following year for their Master Man character. In the case of Master Man, Fawcett simply did as Fox Features had done: they ceased publication of the character and replaced his feature in their Master Comics periodical with a new strip (Bulletman).\n\nHowever, Fawcett decided to fight Detective's allegations that Captain Marvel, the star character of their Whiz Comics periodical, was also an illegal copy of Superman. Captain Marvel had proven to be very successful for the company, and had, within two years of his existence, become its flagship comic book character and had been the first superhero to be adapted into film, in The Adventures of Captain Marvel. By the mid-1940s, Captain Marvel had become the most popular superhero in the country, his Captain Marvel Adventures was the nation's highest circulated comic book magazine (selling 1.4 million copies an issue), and Fawcett had created an entire family of spin-off characters: Captain Marvel, Jr., Mary Marvel, Uncle Marvel, and even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. While its lawsuit against Fawcett was still pending, a few of the elements unique to the Captain Marvel strip found their way into Superman comics, including making Superman fly, Superman's arch-villain Lex Luthor a bald \"mad scientist\" like Captain Marvel's Dr. Sivana, and introducing the adventures of Superman as a teenager under the title Superboy, after Captain Marvel's teenaged sidekick Captain Marvel, Jr. proved to be popular.\n\nInitial hearing\nDetective Comics tried and failed to both have Fawcett cease publication of Captain Marvel comics and have Republic Pictures withhold release of the Captain Marvel serial via a cease and desist in June 1941. When the action went unheeded, Detective and Superman, Inc. filed suit against Fawcett in September 1941, naming Republic as a co-defendant. The lawsuit between Detective and Fawcett proceeded for seven years before trial finally began in March 1948. By this time, Detective Comics and Superman, Inc. had merged to create one company called National Comics, which became the sole plaintiff in the case.\n\nNational's argument was that Captain Marvel's main powers and characteristics (super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability, a skin-tight costume with a cape, and a news reporter alter ego) were derived directly from those of Superman. Fawcett's counterargument was that although the two characters were indeed similar, the similarity was not infringing.\n\nNational presented as evidence a binder over 150 pages in length, featuring panels from their comics of Superman performing superheroic stunts juxtaposed with panels of Captain Marvel doing the same stunts in magazines published at a later date than the Superman example. Fawcett countered in two ways: by providing examples of Captain Marvel performing those feats at even earlier points of publication, or by providing examples of other heroic comics characters such as Popeye or Tarzan performing those feats in earlier published comic strips. Testimony from Fawcett employees and artists hired by Fawcett on a freelance basis offered differing positions on whether or not the Fawcett creative teams had been required to copy from Superman comics.\n\nThe trial was decided in Fawcett's (Captain Marvel's) favor because of information Fawcett's lawyers had uncovered about Superman's copyright status. The defense lawyers provided evidence that National Comics and the McClure Syndicate failed to copyright several of their Superman newspaper comic strips, and the trial judge decided that National had abandoned its Superman copyright such that it was no longer valid.\n\nThe trial judge did find, however, that Captain Marvel was an illegal copy of National's Superman.\n\nAppeal\nNational appealed the decision in 1951 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with Judge Learned Hand presiding. Judge Hand's ruling in National's favor reversed a part of the trial court's decision. National's Superman copyright was held valid but the McClure strip was not under copyright, and the finding that Captain Marvel was an infringement of that copyright was affirmed. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court.\n\nInstead of trying to appeal the Second Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court or going through the damage assessment on how much of an infringement Captain Marvel was in district court, Fawcett decided to settle with National out of court. Superhero comics sales had decreased dramatically during the early 1950s, and Fawcett decided that it was not worthwhile to continue fighting National. National agreed to settle with Fawcett out of court, and Fawcett paid National $400,000 in damages and agreed to cease publication of all Captain Marvel-related comics.\n\nResults of the lawsuit\n\nFawcett Comics ended up cancelling all of its superhero comics, selling the reprint rights for Hoppy the Marvel Bunny to Charlton Comics, who re-lettered the artwork to identify the strip as Hoppy the Magic Bunny. The entire creative staff of the comic book division was laid off, including noted comic book creators such as C. C. Beck and Otto Binder, and the comics division was shut down. L. Miller and Son, a small British publisher of black-and-white Captain Marvel reprints, adapted Captain Marvel into a derivative superhero, Marvelman, instead of folding their comic book business. This character enjoyed similar popularity in the 1950s and was revived in the 1980s, and itself became the subject of a copyright and trademark dispute after the publisher of its North American reprints ceased operations.\n\nCaptain Marvel remained out of print for the rest of the 1950s and the entirety of the 1960s, a period during which superhero comics regained their popularity. In 1967 Marvel Comics trademarked a character of the same name for use in Marvel Super-Heroes #12, and a follow-up self-titled series, which created some difficulties when DC licensed the rights to all of Fawcett's superheroes in 1972, and revived Captain Marvel in a periodical entitled Shazam!. They also obtained reprint rights to the original Fawcett comic books, and began running older stories in their various reprint titles as well as Shazam! itself. However, the license agreement required a per-use fee for every appearance by a Fawcett character, which limited DC's willingness to use the characters, and as a result most of them appeared very rarely once the Shazam! series ended in 1978.\n\nIn 1987, DC Comics relaunched Captain Marvel in a miniseries, Shazam!: The New Beginning, and purchased the full rights to all of the Fawcett superhero characters by 1991. Captain Marvel has not proven to be a modern-day success for DC to the degree it had been for Fawcett, due in part to DC not being able to properly promote the character under the \"Captain Marvel\" name, which is a Marvel Comics trademark. As a result, when DC Comics rebooted its entire comic line under the New 52 initiative in 2011, Captain Marvel was renamed \"Shazam\" and was reintroduced to comics the following year under that name.\n\nNational v. Fawcett is still an often-referenced case in the areas of copyright law and plagiarism because of its readily-accessible subject matter, and the popularity of its author, Judge Hand, among legal scholars. It was occasionally nicknamed Kent v. Batson, a reference to the two superheroes' respective secret identities: National's Clark Kent and Fawcett's Billy Batson.\n\nSuperduperman vs. Captain Marbles \nIn Mad #4, 1953, the story \"Superduperman\" was published. While it did not specifically reference the lawsuit, the story recounts the battle between Superduperman and \"Captain Marbles\", which ends in the defeat of Captain Marbles.\n\nSee also \n Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC: Another comic-related intellectual property rights case (concerning Spider-Man)\n Detective Comics, Inc. v. Bruns Publications, Inc.: Another comic-related intellectual property rights case (copyright infringement)\n Warner Bros. Inc. v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links\n Superman v. Captain Marvel: compares similar Superman and Captain Marvel comic book covers used in trial\n\nUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit cases\nUnited States copyright case law\nDC Comics\nFawcett Comics\nSuperman\nCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)\n1951 in United States case law\n1953 in comics\nUnited States lawsuits",
"Tom Morgan (born October 21) is an American comic book artist known primarily for his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America, The Punisher 2099, Excalibur and Iron Man.\n\nCareer\nMorgan broke into the industry in the early 1980s and worked on a large number of Marvel titles, mostly as a fill-in artist, for such books as Captain America, Star Brand, West Coast Avengers, Star Trek, and Power Pack. In the mid-1990s, he worked on Punisher 2099 and Iron Man for Marvel; and Extreme Justice and both the Action Comics and The Adventures of Superman titles for DC Comics.\n\nIn November 1995, ReganBooks released Miss America, the second book by radio and media personality Howard Stern, which includes a five-page comic book story, written and drawn by Morgan. It was printed as a glossy paper insert, and features Stern's satirical superhero, Fartman. Morgan's story is based on the screenplay by J.F. Lawton for an unproduced Fartman film.\n\nMorgan drew Jeff Mariotte's biography of Barack Obama, which was released in late 2008 by IDW Publishing.\n\nBibliography \n West Coast Avengers #38, 41, 58, 71, 100 (Marvel, 1989/1991/1993)\n Captain America #330, 332-338, 350 (Marvel, 1987–1988)\n Punisher 2099 #1-11, 13, 15-19, 25, 32-34 (Marvel, 1993–1995)\n Iron Man #289, 298, 300, 307-319 (Marvel, 1993–1995)\n Extreme Justice #12-18 (DC, 1996)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nAmerican comics artists"
]
|
[
"Captain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Captain Marvel in the late 1980s",
"What happened to Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries.",
"What did Captain Marvel do in the Legends miniseries?",
"re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.",
"What else did Captain Marvel do after the Legends miniseries?",
"Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain.",
"Does the Billy Batson character get developed in the 1980s?",
"This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction",
"What was the traditional depiction of the character?",
"instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.",
"Did anything else happen for Captain Marvel in the late 1980s?",
"This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988),"
]
| C_e139ad06bbae4f11aca540dece6c2265_0 | Was there any other comic books of Captain Marvel in the 1980s? | 7 | Besides Captain Marvel,was there any other comic books of Captain Marvel in the 1980s? | Captain Marvel (DC Comics) | The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. Before the Crisis, Thomas wrote several of the DC Comics Presents stories featuring the Marvel Family. The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities. This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story-arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623-626 (October 25, 1988 - November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Mazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication due to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas' intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (aka "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project. Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the Wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had finally ceased the fee-per-use licensing agreement with Fawcett Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters. CANNOTANSWER | At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold | Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (), is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics, and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fawcett Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.
Based on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson.
Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. DC renamed the mainline version of the character as "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well.
DC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, and as an animated 1980s series. The 2019 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Levi and Angel are set to return for the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, in 2023.
The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun."
Publication history
Development and inspirations
After the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure.
Fawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". Staff artist Charles Clarence "C. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. "We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times".
The first issue of the comic book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising and trademark purposes. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark "Captain Thunder", "Flash Comics", or "Thrill Comics", because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunder's name to "Captain Marvelous", which the editors shortened to "Captain Marvel". The word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as "Captain Marvel".
Introduction
Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) was published in late 1939. Captain Marvel, the comic's lead feature, introduced audiences to Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam, is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. Shazam's name was an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.
In addition to introducing the main character, his alter ego, and his mentor, Captain Marvel's first adventure in Whiz Comics #2 also introduced his archenemy, the evil Doctor Sivana, and found Billy Batson talking his way into a job as an on-air radio reporter with station WHIZ. Captain Marvel was an instant success, with Whiz Comics #2 selling over 500,000 copies. By 1941, he had his own solo series, Captain Marvel Adventures, the premiere issue of which was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain Marvel continued to appear in Whiz Comics, as well as periodic appearances in other Fawcett books, including Master Comics.
Inspiration and success at Fawcett
Inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, though comparisons with both Cary Grant and Jack Oakie were made as well. Fawcett Publications' founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed "Captain Billy", which inspired the name "Billy Batson" as well as Marvel's title. Fawcett's earliest magazine was titled Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics. In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel. Fawcett's circulation director Roscoe Kent Fawcett recalled telling the staff, "Give me a Superman, only have his other identity be a 10- or 12-year-old boy rather than a man".
Through much of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Captain Marvel proved to be the most popular superhero character of the medium, and his comics outsold all others. Captain Marvel Adventures sold fourteen million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the "Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine".
The franchise was expanded to introduce spin-off characters to Captain Marvel between 1941 and 1942. Whiz Comics #21 (1941) introduced the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys named "Billy Batson" who could also become adult superheroes. Captain Marvel Jr., the alter-ego of disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (1941). Mary Marvel, alter-ego of Billy's twin sister Mary Batson, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (1942). In contrast to Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants, both Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. remained kids in superhero form, and were given their own eponymous books in addition to appearing as the lead features in Master Comics and Wow Comics, respectively. Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel appeared together as a team in another Fawcett publication, The Marvel Family. In addition, there was a talking animal spin-off character, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, which was created in 1942 for Fawcett's Funny Animals comic book and later given an eponymous series as well.
With Bill Parker having been drafted into World War II, chief writing duties on the Captain Marvel-related comics stories went to Otto Binder by 1942. C.C. Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action. Other artists associated with the Marvel Family at Fawcett included Pete Costanza, Mac Rayboy, Marc Swayze, and Kurt Schaffenberger. Otto Binder would write over 900 of the approximately 1,790 Captain Marvel-related stories published by Fawcett. Several of Captain Marvel's enduring supporting characters and enemies—including the non-powered Uncle Marvel, Tawky Tawny the talking tiger, and the villains Mister Mind and Black Adam—were created by Binder during the mid-to-late 1940s.
Copyright infringement lawsuit and cancellation
Detective Comics (later known as National Comics Publications, National Periodical Publications, and today known as DC Comics) sued both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures for copyright infringement in 1941, alleging that Captain Marvel was based on their character Superman. After seven years of litigation, National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. went to trial in 1948. Although the presiding judge decided that Captain Marvel was an infringement, DC was found to be negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman daily newspaper strips, and it was decided that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. As a result, the initial verdict, delivered in 1951, went in Fawcett's favor.
National appealed this decision, and Judge Learned Hand declared in 1952 that National's Superman copyright was in fact valid. Judge Hand did not find that the character of Captain Marvel itself was an infringement, but rather that specific stories or super feats could be infringements, and this would have to be determined in a retrial. He therefore sent the matter back to the lower court for final determination.
Instead of retrying the case, however, Fawcett settled with National out of court. The National lawsuit was not the only problem Fawcett faced in regard to Captain Marvel. While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate. Fawcett tried to revive the popularity of its Captain Marvel series in the early 1950s by introducing elements of the horror comics trend that had gained popularity at the time.
Feeling that this decline in the popularity of superhero comics meant that it was no longer worth continuing the fight, Fawcett agreed on August 14, 1953 to permanently cease publication of comics with the Captain Marvel-related characters and to pay National $400,000 in damages. Fawcett shut down its comics division in the autumn of 1953 and fired its comic book staff. Otto Binder and Kurt Schaffenberger ended up at DC, becoming prominent members of the creative team for the Superman-related comics from 1954 through the 1960s. Schaffenberger snuck an unauthorized cameo by Captain Marvel into a story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 in 1963.
Whiz Comics had ended with issue #155 in June 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures was canceled with #150 in November 1953, and The Marvel Family ended its run with #89 in January 1954. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics, where a few Fawcett-era stories from that strip were reprinted as Hoppy the Magic Bunny, with all references to "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" removed.
Marvelman/Miracleman
In the 1950s, a small British publisher, L. Miller and Son, published a number of black-and-white reprints of American comic books, including the Captain Marvel series. With the outcome of the National v. Fawcett lawsuit, L. Miller and Son found their supply of Captain Marvel material abruptly cut off. They requested the help of a British comic writer, Mick Anglo, who created a thinly disguised version of the superhero called Marvelman. Captain Marvel Jr. was adapted to create Young Marvelman, while Mary Marvel had her sex changed to create the male Kid Marvelman. The magic word "Shazam!" was replaced with "Kimota" ("Atomik" spelled backwards). The new characters took over the numbering of the original Captain Marvel's United Kingdom series with issue number #25.
Marvelman ceased publication in 1963, but the character was revived in 1982 by writer Alan Moore in the pages of Warrior Magazine. Beginning in 1985, Moore's black-and-white serialized adventures were reprinted in color by Eclipse Comics under the new title Miracleman (as Marvel Comics objected to the use of "Marvel" in the title), and continued publication in the United States after Warriors demise. Within the metatextual story line of the comic series itself, it was noted that Marvelman's creation was based upon Captain Marvel comics, by both Moore and later Marvelman/Miracleman writer Neil Gaiman. In 2009, Marvel Comics obtained the rights to the original 1950s Marvelman characters and stories, and later purchased the rights to the 1980s version and those reprints in 2013.
M. F. Enterprises
In 1966, M. F. Enterprises produced their own Captain Marvel: an android superhero from another planet whose main characteristic was the ability to split his body into several parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting "Split!" and reassembled himself by shouting "Xam!" He had a young human ward named Billy Baxton. This short-lived Captain Marvel was credited in the comic as being "based on a character created by Carl Burgos". Marvel Comics subsequently created their own character named Captain Marvel in 1967, and Myron Fass sued Marvel for trademark infringement. Fass accepted a $4,500 settlement from Marvel, and Marvel secured the trademark of the name.
Bill Black's attempted revival
Bill Black attempted to revive Captain Marvel in 1969, but written and drawn in a more realistic Marvel Comics style for his fanzine Paragon Golden Age Greats, Vol. 1, #2. However, on the legal advice of his friend and publishing mentor Martin L. Greim he decided that rather than risk legal trouble with Fawcett Publications to destroy the entire print run except for two copies he saved for his files. Black then rewrote the story using his own newly created hero Captain Paragon.
DC Comics revival: Shazam! (1972–1978)
When superhero comics became popular again in the mid-1960s in what is now called the "Silver Age of Comic Books", Fawcett was unable to revive Captain Marvel, having agreed to never publish the character again as part of their 1953 settlement. Looking for new properties to introduce to the DC Comics line, DC publisher Carmine Infantino decided to bring the Captain Marvel property back into print. On June 16, 1972, DC entered into an agreement with Fawcett to license the Captain Marvel and Marvel Family characters. Because Marvel Comics had by this time established Captain Marvel as a comic book trademark for their own character, created and first published in 1967, DC published their book under the name Shazam! Infantino attempted to give the Shazam! book the subtitle The Original Captain Marvel, but a cease and desist letter from Marvel Comics forced them to change the subtitle to The World's Mightiest Mortal, starting with Shazam! #15 (December 1974). As all subsequent toys and other merchandise featuring the character have also been required to use the "Shazam!" label with little to no mention of the name "Captain Marvel", the title became so linked to Captain Marvel that many people took to identifying the character as "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel".
The Shazam! comic series began with Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). It contained both new stories and reprints from the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis O'Neil was the primary writer of the book. His role was later taken over by writers Elliot S. Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. C. C. Beck drew stories for the first 10 issues of the book before quitting because of creative differences. Bob Oksner and Fawcett alumnus Kurt Schaffenberger were among the later artists of the title. As per DC's agreement with Fawcett, DC paid Fawcett—and after 1977, its successor CBS Publications—a licensing fee per issue, per page for each of the Fawcett characters who appeared, either in Shazam! or crossovers in other comic series.
With DC's Multiverse concept in effect during this time, the revived Marvel Family and related characters lived within the DC Universe on the parallel world of "Earth-S". The Fawcett material was still considered canon, with the Marvel Family's 20-year layoff explained in the comic as time spent in suspended animation due to Doctor Sivana. While the series began with a great deal of fanfare, the book had a lackluster reception. The creators themselves had misgivings. Beck said, "As an illustrator, I could, in the old days, make a good story better by bringing it to life with drawings. But I couldn't bring the new [Captain Marvel] stories to life no matter how hard I tried".
Shazam! was heavily rewritten as of issue #34 (April 1978), and Bridwell provided more realistic stories, accompanied by similar art; the first issue was drawn by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein, and thereafter by Don Newton, a longtime fan of the character, and Schaffenberger. Nevertheless, the next issue was the last one, though the feature was kept alive in a back-up position in the Dollar Comics-formatted run of World's Finest Comics (from #253, October/November 1978, to #282, August 1982, skipping only #271, which featured a full-length origin of the Superman-Batman team story). Schaffenberger left the feature after #259, and the inking credit subsequently varied. When World's Finest Comics reverted to the standard 36 pages, leftover Shazam! material saw publication in Adventure Comics (#491–492, September–October 1982). The remaining 11 issues of that run contained reprints, with Shazam! represented by mostly Fawcett-era stories (left out of Adventure Comics #500 and the final #503, where two features were doubled up to complete their respective story arcs).
Outside of their regular series and features, the Marvel Family characters also appeared as guest stars in the Justice League of America series, in particular issues #135–137 (vol. 1) for the "Crisis on Earth-S" story arc in 1976. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-58 (April 1978) featured a "Superman vs. Shazam!" story by writer Gerry Conway and artists Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.
Captain Marvel, and often the Marvel Family, also co-starred with Superman in several issues of DC Comics Presents written by Roy Thomas. Roy Thomas, a veteran comic book writer and editor, had been lured from Marvel Comics to DC in 1981 with the specific contractual obligation that he would become the main writer of Shazam! and the Justice Society of America characters. The Marvels also guest-starred in several issues of All-Star Squadron, a series centered on the Justice Society and the other Earth-2 characters written by Roy Thomas and his wife Dann. As All-Star Squadron was set during World War II, several events of the comic fell concurrent with and referenced the events of the original early-1940s Fawcett stories. With their 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, DC fully integrated the characters into the DC Universe.
Captain Marvel in the late 1980s
The first Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League in Keith Giffen's and J. M. DeMatteis' relaunch of that title. That same year (spinning off from Legends), he was given his own miniseries titled Shazam!: The New Beginning. With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.
The most notable change that the Thomases, Giffen, and DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain. This change would remain for most future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world, instead of the traditional depiction used prior to 1986, which tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities.
This revised version of Captain Marvel also appeared in one story arc featured in the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly #623–626 (October 25, 1988 – November 15, 1988), in which a Neo-Nazi version of Captain Nazi was introduced. At the end of the arc, it was announced that this would lead to a new Shazam! ongoing series. Though New Beginning had sold well and multiple artists were assigned to and worked on the book, it never saw publication owing to editorial disputes between DC Comics and Roy Thomas. As a result, Thomas's intended revival of the Marvel Family with a new punk-styled Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel (a.k.a. "Spike") who was not Billy's sister, and an African-American take on Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr., did not see print. Thomas departed DC in 1989, not long after his removal from the Shazam! project.
Other attempts at reviving Shazam! were initiated over the next three years, including a reboot project by John Byrne, illustrator of Legends and writer/artist on the Superman reboot miniseries The Man of Steel (1986). None of these versions saw print, though Captain Marvel, the wizard Shazam, and Black Adam did appear in DC's War of the Gods miniseries in 1991. By this time, DC had ended the fee-per-use licensing agreement with CBS Publications and purchased the full rights to Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett Comics characters.
The Power of Shazam! (1994; 1995–1999)
In 1991, Jerry Ordway was given the Shazam! assignment, which he pitched as a painted graphic novel that would lead into a series, rather than starting the series outright. Ordway both wrote and illustrated the graphic novel, titled The Power of Shazam!, which was released in 1994. Power of Shazam! retconned Captain Marvel again and gave him a revised origin, rendering Shazam! The New Beginning and the Action Comics Weekly story apocryphal while Marvel's appearances in Legends and Justice League still counted as part of the continuity.
Ordway's story more closely followed Captain Marvel's Fawcett origins, with only slight additions and changes. The graphic novel was a critically acclaimed success, leading to a Power of Shazam! ongoing series which ran from 1995 to 1999. That series reintroduced the Marvel Family and many of their allies and enemies into the modern-day DC Universe.
Kingdom Come and Shazam! Power of Hope
Captain Marvel also appeared in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's critically acclaimed 1996 alternate universe Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come. Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor. In 2000, Captain Marvel starred in an oversized special graphic novel, Shazam! Power of Hope, written by Paul Dini and painted by Alex Ross.
Early to mid-2000s: JSA and 52
Since the cancellation of the Power of Shazam! title in 1999, the Marvel Family has made appearances in a number of other DC comic books. Black Adam became a main character in Geoff Johns' and David S. Goyer's JSA series, which depicted the latest adventures of the world's first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with Captain Marvel also briefly joining the team to keep an eye on his old nemesis. Captain Marvel also appeared in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Miller's highly acclaimed graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which culminated in his death. The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.
The Marvel Family played an integral part in DC's 2005/2006 Infinite Crisis crossover, which began DC's efforts to retool the Shazam! franchise. In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, which preceded the Infinite Crisis event, the wizard Shazam is killed by the Spectre, and Captain Marvel assumes the wizard's place in the Rock of Eternity. The Marvel Family made a handful of guest appearances in the year-long weekly maxi-series 52, which featured Black Adam as one of its main characters. 52 introduced Adam's "Black Marvel Family," which included Adam's wife Isis, her brother Osiris, and Sobek. The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed. The Marvel Family appeared frequently in the 12-issue bimonthly painted Justice maxi-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithwaite, published from 2005 to 2007.
The Trials of Shazam! (2006–2008)
The Trials of Shazam!, a 12-issue maxiseries written by Judd Winick and illustrated by Howard Porter for the first eight issues, and by Mauro Cascioli for the remaining four, was published from 2006 to 2008. The series redefined the Shazam! property with a stronger focus on magic and mysticism. Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while the former Captain Marvel Jr., Freddy Freeman, attempts to prove himself worthy to become Marvel's champion under the name Shazam.
In the pages of the 2007–2008 Countdown to Final Crisis limited series, Black Adam gives the powerless Mary Batson his powers, turning her into a more aggressive super-powered figure, less upstanding than the old Mary Marvel. By the end of the series, as well as in DC's 2008–2009 Final Crisis limited series, the now black-costumed Mary Marvel, possessed by the evil New God DeSaad, becomes a villainess, joining forces with Superman villain Darkseid and fighting both Supergirl and Freddy Freeman/Shazam.
A three-issue arc in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) undid many of the Trials of Shazam! changes. Issues #23-25 of Justice Society featured Black Adam and a resurrected Isis defeating Marvel and taking over the Rock of Eternity. Adam and Isis recruit the now-evil Mary Marvel to help them in the ensuing fight against a now-powerless Billy Batson and the Justice Society.
Billy and Mary Batson made a brief appearance during DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night saga in a one-shot special, The Power of Shazam! #48. In 2011, DC published a one-shot Shazam! story written by Eric Wallace, in which the still-powerless Billy and Mary help Freddy/Shazam in a battle with the demoness Blaze. Freddy would eventually have his powers stolen by Osiris in Titans (vol. 2) #32 the same year.
The New 52 relaunch
In 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire comic book lineup, creating The New 52 lineup of comics. The revamp began with a seven-issue miniseries, Flashpoint, which features an alternate timeline in which Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman are joined by three new kids, Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Dudley, as the "S! H! A! Z! A! M! Family." In this concept, all six kids say "Shazam!" in unison to become an alternate version of Captain Marvel named Captain Thunder. While the continuity would be altered again by the conclusion of the story, creating the "New 52" multiverse, the three new Shazam! kids would be reintroduced for later appearances.
One of these relaunched series, Justice League (vol. 2), began featuring a Shazam! backup story with issue #7 in March 2012. The feature, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank, introduces Billy Batson and his supporting cast into the new DC Universe. As part of the redesign, Captain Marvel received a new costume designed by Frank with a long cloak and hood. Johns noted that the character's place in the world will be "far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before". The character also was officially renamed "Shazam" at this time. The Shazam! origin story, which included two full issues in Justice League (vol. 2) #0 (2012) and 21 (2013), reintroduced Billy Batson/Shazam, the Wizard, Black Adam, Tawny the tiger, and the Shazam Family (Freddy, Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro) to continuity. The Shazam! feature concluded with Justice League (vol. 2) #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos.
Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," owing to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.
Following his appearances in the "Trinity War" and "Forever Evil" crossover storylines, Shazam appeared as a member of the Justice League from Justice League (vol. 2) #30-50 from 2014 through 2016, and also in a one-shot spinoff titled Justice League: The Darkseid War - Shazam (cover-dated January 2016). He also appeared as a supporting character in the Cyborg series as the friend of Victor Stone/Cyborg. New takes on the classic Fawcett versions of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family appeared in Grant Morrison's 2014 miniseries The Multiversity (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-5) and in a 2015 spin-off to the Convergence crossover event, Convergence: Shazam! (which takes place on the parallel world of Earth-S).
DC Rebirth and beyond
Following DC's 2016 DC Rebirth soft-relaunch event, the Shazam! characters were largely absent from new DC continuity, though Mary Marvel of Earth-5 appeared in Superman (vol. 4) #14–16 (2016), and Black Adam appeared in Dark Nights: Metal #4–5 (2017) to battle Wonder Woman. In late 2018, with the Shazam! movie in production at New Line Cinema, DC began publishing a new ongoing Shazam! series, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Marco Santucci, and Scott Kolins. The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family. As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C. Batson returns to attempt to re-connect with his son.
The first issue, featuring a manga backup story focused on Mary and her pet rabbit Hoppy by Johns and Shazam! fan Mayo "SEN" Naito, was published on December 5, 2018. Despite initial positive reviews, the third volume of Shazam! fell victim to several publishing delays. Thirteen issues from Johns, Eaglesham, and others - along with two guest issues, #12 and 15, from writer Jeff Loveness and artist Brandon Peterson - were published between 2018 and 2020. The book was cancelled with issue #15 (November 2020); Johns cited the COVID-19 pandemic and Eaglesham's desire to take a break as reasons for discontinuing the book.
Fictional character biography
Fawcett/Early DC origin
Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) introduces William Joseph "Billy" Batson, a homeless 12-year-old (later 14-year-old) newsboy who sleeps in the subway station of his home city (originally New York City; later referred to in DC publications as Fawcett City). A mysterious man in a green cloak asks Billy to follow him into the subway station. A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe. As the man in green disappears, the old man on the throne explains to Billy that he is the wizard Shazam, and has used the powers of "the gods"—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, hence the name "Shazam"—to fight evil for over 3,000 years. However, he has now grown too old to continue and is in need of a successor. The wizard explains that Billy was chosen because of his misfortune: he had been thrown out by a greedy uncle who stole his inheritance following the deaths of his parents (later retellings of the origin would also note that Billy was chosen for being "pure of heart"). Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
The wizard Shazam declares the new hero "Captain Marvel" and orders him to carry on his work, as a stone block suspended above his throne falls upon him, killing him as prophesied. The wizard would return—in later retellings of the origin story, immediately—as a spirit to serve as a mentor to Billy and Captain Marvel, summoned by lighting a torch on the wall of his lair. As a spirit, the wizard Shazam lives at the Rock of Eternity, a bicone-shaped rock formation situated at the nexus of time and space. Later retellings of the Captain Marvel origin place Shazam's underground lair within the Rock. Saying the word "Shazam" allows Billy to summon the magic lightning and become Captain Marvel, while Captain Marvel can say the magic word himself to become Billy again.
Captain Marvel's first battle was with the mad scientist Doctor Sivana, who becomes Captain Marvel's arch-enemy. Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity. An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
While the majority of Billy's adventures feature him as a solo hero, he also fought evil on a regular basis accompanied by several other kids who share his powers to make up a superhero team called the Marvel Family (later referred to as the Shazam Family owing to the issues DC Comics faced over the "Marvel" and "Captain Marvel" trademarks). The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!" in unison, they can become adult superheroes as well.
In Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), Captain Marvel saves Freddy Freeman, a boy who had been left for dead by the evil Captain Nazi, and does for Freddy what the wizard did for him. By speaking the name "Captain Marvel," Freddy can become the superpowered Captain Marvel Jr. Unlike Billy, Freddy retains his 14-year-old appearance as a superhero. Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942) introduced Billy and Freddy to Mary Bromfield, a rich girl who turns out to be Billy's long-lost twin sister. By saying the magic word "Shazam," Mary Bromfield becomes Mary Marvel. In the Fawcett and pre-1986 DC stories, Mary remained a teenager as Freddy did in Marvel form; Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series made her superpowered form an adult like Billy's. The Marvel Family also included non-powered honorary members such as Uncle Marvel, an old con man who pretended to be Mary's uncle, and Freckles Marvel, an honorary cousin.
Later DC origins
The basic elements of Billy Batson's and Captain Marvel's origin story remained more or less intact through 2012, with minor alterations over the years. Roy & Dann Thomas's 1987 miniseries Shazam! The New Beginning had a 15-year-old Billy being forced to move in with Doctor Sivana, who in this version is the cruel uncle who throws Billy out into the street. Jerry Ordway's 1994 Power of Shazam! graphic novel, which became the character's definite origin through 2011, featured a ten-year-old Billy being chosen as the Wizard Shazam's champion, because of the influence of his archaeologist parents; the mysterious stranger from magic subway car is the ghost of Billy's father in this version. Both the Thomases' and Ordway's retellings of the origin directly tie the need for the Wizard Shazam to draft a younger replacement to the coming re-emergence of Black Adam, the wizard's first champion from the days of ancient Egypt who became evil and was due to escape thousands of years of banishment.
Ordway's origin added the extra element of Black Adam's alter ego/descendant Theo Adam being the murderer of Billy's parents. The subsequent Power of Shazam! ongoing series features Billy, now 14, meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics. The Marvels' home base of Fawcett City is depicted as a city full of old-fashioned traditions and architecture, later establishing that the Wizard Shazam placed a spell on the city (broken in later issues) that slowed time to a crawl in 1955. This phenomenon was used to explain the Marvel Family's sometimes anachronistic approaches to life and heroism compared to many of their contemporary heroes in the DC Universe.
In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time. In his new origin story, Billy Batson is a moody and troubled 15-year-old foster child living in Philadelphia who has gone through several foster homes. At his newest foster home under Victor and Rosa Vázquez, Billy gains five foster siblings: "den mother" Mary Bromfield, trickster and pick-pocket Freddy Freeman, shy and quiet Pedro Peña, brainy Eugene Choi, and energetic Darla Dudley. When the evil Dr. Sivana unleashes the ancient magical warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the Wizard of the Rock of Eternity—the last of a council of beings who once controlled magic—begins abducting candidates to assess them for the job of being his champion. He dismisses each of them for not being pure of heart.
Eventually, the Wizard summons Billy, who is another unsuitable candidate, but Billy persuades the Wizard that perfectly good people "really don't exist," and that, while he himself tried to be good, the world dragged Billy down to its level. In desperation and seeing the "embers of good" within Billy, the dying Wizard passes on his powers and teaches Billy they can be accessed through the magic word "Shazam" when spoken with good intentions. After saying the magic word, Billy is struck by a bolt of lightning which transforms him into Shazam, a super-powered adult possessing super-strength, flight, and vast magical powers. The Wizard dies and Shazam is transported back to Earth, where Billy reveals his new secret to Freddy. The two scheme to make money and score beer with Shazam's new powers, but Shazam is instead led to crime scenes where he is needed as a hero. Shazam and Freddy have a falling out when Shazam refuses to change back into Billy, and as soon as Freddy heads back home, Shazam is attacked by Black Adam. Billy is saved only by mending his relationships with Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. When Adam again attacks, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins on downtown Philadelphia and threatening to kill the other kids, Billy shares his powers with them, who all become magic-powered adult superheroes (except for Darla, who remains a child). Ultimately, Billy goads Adam into saying the magic word and transforming into his human form, at which point he promptly turns to dust. Although he had contemplated running away, Billy decides to stay with his new family, having learned to be a better and more open person.
Commencing the "Trinity War" story line, Billy flies to Black Adam's home nation of Kahndaq to bury Adam's remains. Shazam's entry into the country is interpreted by the locals as illegal US entry into their territory. This leads to run-ins with both the independent Justice League and the US-sponsored Justice League of America (JLA), and a series of events that see the opening of Pandora's Box, a portal to Earth-3 which brings the evil Justice League analogues of the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0. Following the successful defeat of the Crime Syndicate, Shazam is inducted into the League. While still a newcomer to the league, Billy has a number of new adventures while under the mentorship of Cyborg, who becomes one of his best friends.
After a year of living in the Vázquez home, Billy and his foster siblings have taken to having fun fighting crime around Philadelphia as the Shazam Family. While exploring the Rock of Eternity, Eugene finds a formerly sealed-off area of the Rock: an abandoned train station leading to the seven realms of an unexplored world known as the Magic Lands.
Powers and abilities
While normally having no special abilities in his human persona as Billy Batson, once he says the magic word "Shazam!", he transforms into a full-grown man in peak physical condition endowed with multiple superpowers that rank him amongst the most powerful entities in the DC Universe. Billy is also able to share his powers with others.
The letters in the name Shazam each represent a specific superhuman ability:
In classic stories, simply saying the word "Shazam!" transformed Billy into Captain Marvel/Shazam and back again; this extended to accidental utterances, recorded playbacks, and so forth. When Captain Marvel/Shazam shared his powers with his Marvel/Shazam Family teammates in 1990s and 2000s DC publications (from The Power of Shazam! in 1995 through 2011's Flashpoint), the Shazam power was depicted as a finite source which would be divided into halves, thirds, or further depending upon how many Marvels were super-powered at one time, and weakening them accordingly.
Captain Marvel/Shazam is not completely invulnerable. In several stories, he is shown to be susceptible to high-powered magic, which can weaken or de-power him, and, in some older stories, to significantly high voltages of lightning or electricity, which would make him revert to Billy Batson form. Despite possessing the courage of Achilles, the Fawcett Captain Marvel (though not Billy Batson) was extremely bashful and shy around attractive women, a weakness some villains came to exploit. Most depictions following the Crisis on Infinite Earths also show his childlike innocence and immaturity to be a significant weakness.
Jerry Ordway's 1990s The Power of Shazam! series also gave Billy the added ability to alter Captain Marvel/Shazam's appearance to his will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" Billy uses this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks, and to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
In the late 2000s, when Billy replaced the wizard and took on a white costume and the name of "Marvel", he commanded the various magical abilities once possessed by the wizard. However, he was also required to remain on the Rock of Eternity and could only be away from it for 24 hours at a time.
Since the 2011 reboot, Shazam's powers have been slightly altered. Speaking or thinking the magic word "Shazam" does not cause a transformation if Billy does not want it to, and can be used to cast magic spells other than the transformation. He can share his magical powers and bestow unique powers onto a maximum of six members of his family, "family" in this case extending to chosen and foster relations, without weakening himself. Shazam also demonstrates the ability to use magic in numerous ways, including conjuring objects, casting powerful spells, and more.
In 2016, during the "Darkseid War" story arc in the Justice League comic book, several members of the Justice League were infused with the powers of the gods in the wake of Darkseid's death. Shazam became the God of the Gods, and his powers were temporarily changed to those of six old gods:
Other versions
A significant number of "alternate" depictions of Shazam/Captain Marvel have appeared in DC publications since the 1970s.
Captain Thunder (1974)
In "Make Way for Captain Thunder" from Superman #276 (June 1974), Superman found himself at odds with "Captain Thunder", a superhero displaced from another Earth and another time. Thunder had been magically tricked by his archenemies in the Monster League of Evil into committing evil himself, which led to his doing battle with Superman. Captain Thunder, whose name was derived from Captain Marvel's original moniker, was a thinly veiled pastiche of Marvel—down to his similar costume, his young alter ego named "Willie Fawcett" (a reference to Fawcett Comics), and a magic word ("Thunder!"), which was an acronym for seven entities and their respective powers. He got his power from rubbing a magic belt buckle with a thunder symbol on it and saying "Thunder". His powers came from Tornado (power), Hare (speed), Uncas (bravery), Nature (wisdom), Diamond (toughness), Eagle (flight), and Ram (tenacity). Superman held him while he used his wisdom to escape the effects of the spell.
"Make Way for Captain Thunder" was written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by Curt Swan and Bob Oskner. At the time of its publication, DC had been printing Shazam! comics for 18 months, but had kept that universe separate from those of its other publications. The real Captain Marvel would finally meet Superman in Justice League of America #137, two years later (although he met Lex Luthor in Shazam! #15, November/December 1974).
Captain Thunder (1982)
In 1983, a proposal for an updated Captain Marvel was submitted to DC by Roy Thomas, Don Newton, and Jerry Ordway. This version of the character, to be an inhabitant of DC's main Earth-One universe, rather than the Fawcett-based Earth-S universe, would have featured an African-American version of Billy Batson named "Willie Fawcett" (as in the 1974 story), who spoke the magic word "Shazam!" to become Captain Thunder, Earth-One's Mightiest Mortal. This alternate version of the character was never used.
Elseworld's Finest (1998)
In the alternate universe Elseworlds one-shot comic Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998) by Tom Simmons, Matt Haley and Barbara Kesel, the current Captain Marvel is depicted as a bald African-American man. A flashback to the older Justice Society features the traditional Caucasian Captain Marvel, leading to the conclusion that there were two Captain Marvels.
Superman: Distant Fires (1998)
In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war. An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities. When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002)
In the dark alternate future shown in Frank Miller's 2001–2002 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Captain Marvel is visibly aged, with receding white hair and glasses. Lex Luthor, who has captured Mary Marvel, coerces him into working for him by threatening to kill her. During an alien attack on Metropolis, Marvel is trapped underneath a collapsing building with no way out, and admits that Billy Batson—here, clearly defined as a separate person from Marvel, rather than simply transforming into him—died eight years ago of unspecified health problems. As a result, when he next speaks his word, he will cease to exist like any dream when there is nobody left to remember it. His last words to Wonder Woman are to give everyone his best, noting that it was nice existing, before he calls down his lightning and destroys himself.
Kingdom Come
The 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid with painted art by Alex Ross, depicts a possible future of the DC characters. In this version, Billy Batson is an adult who now matches the appearance of his superhero identity. The human hostility towards superheroes has made him uneasy, and he has not transformed into Captain Marvel for several years. Batson has become the brainwashed servant of Lex Luthor, who uses Mister Mind's mind-controlling worm offspring to keep him in check and bend him to his will. Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.
Events finally cause him to transform into Captain Marvel, and he unleashes a force that could destroy the world. When the authorities try to stop it by dropping a nuclear bomb, Captain Marvel—spurred by Superman telling him that, owing to his ties to both humanity and the superhuman community, he is the only one capable of choosing which one to save—intercepts the bomb and summons his lightning to detonate it while it is still airborne, sacrificing himself to save as many lives as possible, both human and metahuman. The nuclear blast still kills a large number of heroes, but does cool the war-like attitudes of the survivors. Superman uses Marvel's cape as the symbol of a new world order in which humans and superhumans will now live in harmony.
Earth-5
In 52 #52 (May 2, 2007), a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities, one of which is designated Earth-5. As a result of Marvel Family foe Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-S, including the Marvel Family characters.
The Earth-5 Captain Marvel and Billy Batson appeared, assisting Superman, in the Final Crisis: Superman Beyond miniseries. The miniseries established that these versions of Captain Marvel and Billy are two separate beings, and that Billy is a reporter for WHIZ Media, rather than a radio broadcaster. The Earth-5 Captain Marvel reappeared in Final Crisis #7, along with an army of Supermen from across the Multiverse to prevent its destruction by Darkseid. Following The New 52 Multiverse reboot, Earth-5 remains a Fawcett Comics–inspired setting, and is spotlighted in the comic book The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 (Feb 2015), a modernized take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel stories from writer Grant Morrison and artist Cameron Stewart.
Shazam (2001): Just Imagine...
A one-shot alternate take on Shazam! was published as part of the Just Imagine... comics line in 2001, which saw Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee reimagining various DC characters.
Lee reimagined the original Shazam! premise by having the hero be a mild mannered Interpol agent, Robert Rogers. Teamed with the beautiful, and much tougher, fellow agent, Carla Noral, the two of them are in India searching for the megalomaniac master criminal Gunga Kahn. Rogers is given the ability to transform into a large, winged being by saying the magic word "Shazam!" This version is co-created with Gary Frank, and is based on the Bill Parker–C. C. Beck character.
In a backup story plotted by Michael Uslan, scripted by Lee and Uslan, and drawn by Kano, an orphaned American boy in India at the same time as the adventures of Shazam heroically saves a village from starvation with the help of a local boy named Zubin Navotny. The boy's name is Billy Marvel, and he and Zubin are made honorary captains in the U.S. Peace Corps by an Ambassador named Batson, making the boy "Captain Marvel."
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (2007)
A Captain Marvel miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith (creator of Bone), was published in four 48-page installments between February and July 2007. Smith's Shazam! miniseries, in the works since 2003, is a more traditional take on the character, which updates and reimagines Captain Marvel's origin. Smith's story features a younger-looking Billy Batson and Captain Marvel as separate personalities, as they were in the pre-1985 stories, and features a prepubescent Mary Marvel as Captain Marvel's sidekick, instead of the traditional teen-aged or adult versions. Dr. Sivana is Attorney General of the United States, and Mister Mind looks more like a snake than a caterpillar.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! (2008–2010)
An all-ages Captain Marvel comic, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, debuted in July 2008 under DC's Johnny DC youth-oriented imprint, and was published monthly through December 2010. Following the lead and continuity of Smith's Monster Society of Evil miniseries, it was initially written and drawn by Mike Kunkel, creator of Herobear. Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, of Tiny Titans, took over as writers with issue #5, with Byron Vaughns as main artist until issue #13, when Mike Norton assumed his place for the remainder of the series. Kunkel's version returns to the modern concept of having Captain Marvel retain Billy's personality, and also introduces new versions of Black Adam (whose alter ego, Theo Adam, is a child like Billy Batson in this version), King Kull, the Arson Fiend, and Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
Justice League: Generation Lost (2010)
A female version of Captain Marvel is shown as a member of an alternate-future Justice League in Justice League: Generation Lost, a 2010 comics maxiseries written by Judd Winick and Keith Giffen. Little is revealed about her, other than the fact that her civilian name is Sahar Shazeen, and she is shown wielding a pair of swords during battle. She and her teammates are ultimately killed by an army of Omni Mind And Community (OMACs).
Captain Thunder (2011): Flashpoint
The 2011 Flashpoint comics miniseries, written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert, featured an alternate timeline accidentally created by the Flash, who then helped the heroes of this timeline to restore history. One of those heroes is Captain Thunder—an alternative version of Captain Marvel who has six alter-egos, rather than one, and a scarred face as the result of a fight with Wonder Woman, who in this timeline is a villain.
The six children, collectively known as "S.H.A.Z.A.M.", each possess one of the six attributes of the power of Shazam, and must say the magic word together to become Captain Thunder. They are: Eugene Choi, who possesses the wisdom of Solomon; Pedro Peña, who possesses the strength of Hercules; Mary Batson, Freddy Freeman and Billy Batson, who possess the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, and the courage of Achilles, respectively; and Darla Dudley who possesses the speed of Mercury. Pedro's pet tiger Tawny also transforms into a more powerful version of himself via the magic lightning.
The six children later transform into Captain Thunder to help Flash and his allies stop the war between Aquaman's Atlantean army and Wonder Woman's Amazonian forces. Captain Thunder briefly fights Wonder Woman to a draw before being transformed back into the six children by Flash's accomplice Enchantress, who is revealed to be a traitor. Before the kids can re-form Captain Thunder, Billy is stabbed by the Amazon Penthesileia and killed.
After the conclusion of the miniseries, the three new children from the Flashpoint timeline—Eugene, Pedro, and Darla—were incorporated into the DC Universe via the Shazam! backup strip in Justice League, appearing as Billy, Mary, and Freddy's foster siblings.
Mazahs (2013): Forever Evil
Mazahs is a corrupted alternate-universe version of Shazam, introduced in the 2013–14 Forever Evil DC Comics crossover event series written by Geoff Johns. He is the super-powered alter-ego of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3. In the story, the Crime Syndicate (evil Earth-3 analogues of the Justice League) have brought Alexander Luthor, their prisoner, with them to the Prime Earth where the Justice League and other heroes reside. Prime Earth's Lex Luthor and his team sneak in to the Justice League Watchtower where the Syndicate has Alexander hostage, and remove the duct tape over his mouth, allowing Alexander to speak the magic word "Mazahs!" and transform into his muscular, highly powerful alter-ego. While Prime Earth's Shazam is known for sharing his powers with others, Mazahs kills other superbeings and takes their powers for his own, as when he kills the Syndicate's speedster Johnny Quick. It is implied that the power of Mazahs previously belonged to Earth-3's Will Batson, before he was killed by Alexander. In the final issue of the series, it is revealed that Earth-3's Wonder Woman analogue, Superwoman, is in a relationship with Alexander and tricked her teammates into bringing him with them. She also reveals she is carrying his child, who is prophesied to bring an end to the world. Exploiting his ability to use the powers of those he has killed, Mazahs easily takes down both the Syndicate and Luthor's team, but Prime Earth Lex Luthor (having the same voice as Mazahs) manages to call down the lightning, using a lightning-rod that Batman had retrieved to try and use against Johnny Quick based on his planned defense against the Flash, and transform Mazahs into his human form. Sealing Alexander's mouth, Lex stabs him with a knife, killing him.
Superwoman later gives birth to Mazahs's child in Justice League #50, and uses the baby's power-stealing abilities, inherited from his father and activated when she says the magic word, to remove abilities the members the Prime-Earth Justice League had inherited from their time on Apokolips after the death of Darkseid. The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013–2016)
In the prequel comic to the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Shazam joins Superman's Regime in establishing a new approach to ending crime. Similar to the Golden Age version, this Shazam is suggested to have two personalities: Billy Batson is a separate person from Shazam. In Year One he, like the Flash, is somewhat skeptical of Superman's intentions, as his actions are often immoral. Ultimately, Shazam decides to stay and support the Regime, devoted to its cause. He becomes the object of Harley Quinn's affection, being bound and gagged by her in Year Four. He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently. He, Harley (for trying to help him), and Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta are sent to the abyss of Tartarus as punishment, though they escape and Billy is left out of the conflict without his powers. Eventually, Zeus is forced to return Billy's power after the Highfather of New Genesis intervenes in the conflict. In Year Five, Shazam's relationship with Harley is complicated when she confronts him about being in the Regime despite their growing tyranny. (See the video games section for the continuation of his story in this universe.)
Shazam! Thundercrack
On May 27, 2021, it was announced that cartoonist Yehudi Mercado would write and draw a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shazam! Thundercrack, which will take place within the storyline of the 2019 Shazam! movie. It is set for both online and print release on June 7, 2022.
Supporting cast
In the traditional Shazam! stories, Captain Marvel often fights evil as a member of a superhero team known as the Marvel Family, made up of himself and several other heroes empowered by the wizard Shazam. The main core of the Marvel Family were Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, the alter-ego of Billy Batson's twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), and Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories.
Among the key supporting characters was Mr. Sterling Morris, president of Amalgamated Broadcasting, owners of Station WHIZ, the radio (and later TV) station for which Billy worked as a reporter. Billy also had his own love interest, Cissie Sommerly, who was also Sterling Morris' niece and had a recurring role in the comics. In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping. From 1947 forward, Billy/Marvel's sidekick was Mr. Tawky Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who works as a museum curator and seeks integration into human society.
The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster siblings, with whom he shares his powers: Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. The latter three children were introduced in the Flashpoint miniseries as three of the six children sharing the powers of "Captain Thunder", and introduced into regular DC continuity with Justice League (vol. 2) #8 in 2012. Tawny was initially depicted as a magically-charged zoo tiger in the Justice League backup stories. In the 2018–present ongoing Shazam! series, a more traditional version of Tawny is a resident of The Wildlands, a magical realm inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.
The Marvel Family's other non-powered allies have traditionally included Dr. Sivana's good-natured adult offspring, Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. The 1970s Shazam! series also included Sunny Sparkle, the "nicest boy in the world." Jerry Ordway's 1990s Power of Shazam! series also introduced Billy's school principal, Miss Wormwood, and Mary's adoptive parents, Nick and Nora Bromfield. The New 52 reboot of Shazam! introduced the Shazam kids' foster parents, Victor and Rosa Vázquez.
Collected editions
Many of the character's appearances have been collected into several volumes:
In other media
Live-action films
Film serial
The first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel was produced in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in the title role and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as Billy Batson, was a 12-part film serial produced by Republic Pictures. This production made Captain Marvel the first superhero to be depicted in film. The Adventures of Captain Marvel (for which the man-in-flight effects techniques were originally developed for a Superman film serial that Republic never produced) predated Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons by six months.
Feature films
In 1950, Columbia Pictures released the comedy/mystery feature film The Good Humor Man with Jack Carson, Lola Albright, and George Reeves. The storyline has Carson as an ice cream vendor who also belongs to a home-grown Captain Marvel Club with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Fawcett released a tie-in one-shot the same year the movie appeared, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Following DC's acquisition of the property, development of a Shazam! feature film began at New Line Cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The project remained in development through New Line's absorption into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2009. In 2014, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to executive produce and co-star as the villain Black Adam. In early 2017, New Line and Johnson decided to split the Shazam! films into one film for Shazam! - which would instead feature Doctor Sivana as the main villain - and a solo Black Adam film.
New Line's Shazam! film was released in 2019 by Warner Bros., and is set within Warners' DC Extended Universe film franchise. Directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Henry Gayden, the film stars Zachary Levi as Shazam!, Mark Strong as Doctor Sivana, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's New 52 Shazam! comic reboot served as the main source of inspiration for the film's plot.
Shazam! follows disaffected foster teen Billy Batson as he simultaneously deals with the responsibility of his new power to become Shazam (with Freddy's help as his "manager") and his ongoing search for his birth mother. The film also introduced Billy and Freddy's foster siblings Darla (portrayed by Faithe Herman), Mary (Grace Fulton), Eugene (Ian Chen), and Pedro (Jovan Armand). The other five kids become the Shazam Family at the end of the film to help Shazam battle Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, with Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Michelle Borth as Super Hero Mary, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, and D. J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro.
Produced for $98 million, the film grossed $364 million worldwide. The cast (minus Michelle Borth, with Grace Fulton playing both versions of Mary), Sandberg, and Gayden all returned to make a sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The film, which also co-stars Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, was filmed in the Atlanta, GA area during the summer of 2021 and is currently set for a June 2023 release.
The Shazam! sequel was produced concurrently with Dwayne Johnson's spinoff Black Adam film, which filmed in Atlanta at the same time. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Adam Sztykiel as screenwriter, Black Adam is set for a June 2022 release by Warner Bros. Shazam makes a non-speaking appearance in the 2018 animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, adapted from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans Go! animated TV series.
Direct-to-video animated films
Captain Marvel's first appearance in Warner Bros. Animation's line of DC Universe Animated Original Movies direct-to-video films was a brief cameo in 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier. The character had a more substantial role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, based on a Superman/Batman comic book arc in which Marvel battles Superman under orders from United States President Lex Luthor. Captain Marvel was voiced by Corey Burton. An uncredited Rachael MacFarlane voiced Billy Batson.
An evil version of Captain Marvel, named Captain Super, has a minor role in the 2010 animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. One of the film's main villains, and Captain Super's superior, is Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate of the alternate universe Earth-3, who in this film is an evil counterpart of Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel appears in an animated short film entitled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, released on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection DVD compilation as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, 2010. Jerry O'Connell returns from the Justice League Unlimited animated TV show as the voice of Captain Marvel, with Billy Batson voiced by Zach Callison.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the 2013 animated adaptation of the alternate-universe comics story Flashpoint features Captain Thunder and the S! H! A! Z! A! M! kids as supporting characters. Apart, each child has a facet of SHAZAM's power: Eugene Choi (wisdom of Solomon), Pedro Peña (strength of Hercules), Mary Bromfield (stamina of Atlas), Freddy Freeman (power of Zeus), Billy Batson (courage of Achilles), and Darla Dudley (speed of Mercury). Together, they form Captain Thunder. Pedro Peña and Billy Batson are voiced by Candi Milo and Jennifer Hale, respectively, with Captain Thunder voiced by Steve Blum. The children travel to London, now an Amazon stronghold, along with resistance heroes Cyborg, Batman and the Flash. They combine into Captain Thunder and fight Wonder Woman 1v1, ending in Wonder Woman using her lasso to compel Captain Thunder to revert into the children. Batson is killed immediately afterwards, while the other children are either killed by Wonder Woman offscreen or vaporized with every other combatant when Aquaman detonates his desperation weapon (powered by a captive Captain Atom), razing the entire battlefield. Nonetheless, the Flash escapes and races back in time, preventing the Flashpoint timeline's existence and also the SHAZAM kids' deaths.
In 2014, the character—now renamed Shazam—appeared in the animated film Justice League: War. Zach Callison reprised his role as Billy Batson, and Shazam is voiced by Sean Astin. Billy is depicted as living in a foster home with Freddy (voiced by Georgie Kidder) and Darla (voiced by Kimberly Brooks). A fan of high school football star Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg), Billy gets to work alongside his hero as Shazam to help the Justice League fight Darkseid. Shazam also appears in the sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), voiced again by Sean Astin. He does not appear in the animated film Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), although his absence is mentioned by other Justice League members. He is again only mentioned by name in Justice League Dark (2017). He does not appear in The Death of Superman (2018), and his absence is not addressed. He makes his last appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, albeit with one line of dialogue, merely being a desperate "Shazam!" as he is torn to shreds by Parademons after having replaced his leg with a magical equivalent. He is mentioned as having been the sole founding member of the Justice League to have escaped the battle on Apokolips with Cyborg's help, which is where he loses his leg.
Shazam appears in the film Lego DC: Shazam!: Magic and Monsters, voiced again by Sean Astin, while Billy Batson is voiced again by Zach Callison.
Shazam appears in the animated film Injustice, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
Television
1970s–1990s
Captain Marvel first came to television in 1974. Filmation produced Shazam!, a live-action television show, which ran from 1974 to 1977 on CBS. From 1975 until the end of its run, it aired as one-half of The Shazam!/Isis Hour, featuring Filmation's own The Secrets of Isis as a companion program.
Instead of directly following the lead of the comics, the Shazam! TV show took a more indirect approach to the character: Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, accompanied by an older man known simply as Mentor (Les Tremayne), traveled in a motor home across the U.S., interacting with people in different towns in which they stopped to save the citizens from some form of danger or to help them combat some form of evil. With the wizard Shazam absent from this series, Billy received his powers and counsel directly from the six "immortal elders" represented in the "Shazam" name, who were depicted via animation: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam! starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, with both Jackson Bostwick (season 1) and John Davey (seasons 2 and 3) as Captain Marvel. An adapted version of Isis, the heroine of The Secrets of Isis, was introduced into DC Comics in 2006 as Black Adam's wife in the weekly comic book series 52.
Shortly after the Shazam! show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979. The specials also featured Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana, and Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, marking the first appearance of those characters in film or television. Although Captain Marvel did not appear in Hanna-Barbera's long-running concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series Super Friends (which featured many of the other DC superheroes), he did appear in some of the merchandise associated with the show.
Filmation revisited the character three years later for an animated Shazam! cartoon program, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1982 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! accompanied by Hero High. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were both voiced by Burr Middleton. The rest of the Marvel Family joined Captain Marvel on his adventures in this series, which were more similar to his comic-book adventures than the 1970s TV show. Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, Black Adam, and other familiar Captain Marvel foes appeared as enemies.
Captain Marvel and/or Billy Batson made brief "cameo" appearances in two 1990s TV series. Billy has a non-speaking cameo in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession", while live actors portraying Captain Marvel make "cameo" appearances in both a dream-sequence within an episode of The Drew Carey Show, and in the Beastie Boys' music video for "Alive".
2000s–present
Because of development of the Shazam! feature film at New Line Cinema, the rights to use the Shazam! characters in the DC animated universe series productions produced by Bruce Timm and/or Paul Dini were complicated by licensing issues. A planned Superman vs. Captain Marvel fight for the Kids' WB animated show Superman: The Animated Series circa 2000 went un-produced, as did a proposed Shazam! series for Cartoon Network pitched by Paul Dini and Alex Ross at about the same time.
Captain Marvel's first formal appearance in a DCAU production was as the main guest star character of the Justice League Unlimited episode "Clash", originally aired in 2005 on Cartoon Network. Captain Marvel was voiced by Jerry O'Connell, and Billy Batson by Shane Haboucha. In this episode, Captain Marvel joins the Justice League, but his positive opinions about supervillain Lex Luthor's apparent reform create a heavy tension on his relationship with Superman. This tension eventually leads to an all-out battle between Marvel and Superman when Superman believes the generator Luthor built under a city is really a bomb. Despite Marvel having magical powers (a weakness of Superman), Superman defeats him when as Marvel says "SHAZAM!", Superman lifts Marvel over his head, causing the lightning to hit Marvel instead and turn him into Billy. Billy tries to say the magic word, but Superman gag him. Superman destroys the device, but its remains are examined and it turns out to really be a generator. Despite Superman trying to apologize, Captain Marvel quits the Justice League in disgust claiming that Superman aren't like the heroes he admired anymore. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Captain Marvel has been only used because the clash between the two superheroes was part of a big plot organized by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit Superman.
Later, Captain Marvel made eight appearances in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold series, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Captain Marvel voiced by Jeff Bennett and Billy Batson by Tara Strong. Two second-season episodes of Brave and the Bold are dedicated to Captain Marvel's world and supporting cast. "The Power of Shazam!" featured Captain Marvel/Billy Batson alongside the Sivana Family, Black Adam, the wizard Shazam, Aunt Minerva, and Mary Batson, while "The Malicious Mr. Mind" featured the Marvel Family (Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.), Sivana, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil.
Captain Marvel also appears as a recurring character in the DC Comics-based series Young Justice. Captain Marvel is voiced by Rob Lowe and later by Chad Lowe, while Billy Batson is voiced by Robert Ochoa. Depicted as a member of the Justice League, Marvel is introduced as the team's new "den mother" in the episode "Alpha Male" after Red Tornado's disappearance. At various times, he sometimes joins the teenage heroes of Young Justice on their missions. Billy is 10 years old in his season 1 appearances; 15 years old in season 2, which takes place five years later; and 17 years old in season 3.
Captain Marvel made four appearances in the animated sketch comedy series Mad, such as the "Shazamwich!" segment by Nate Theis.
Following the character's name change, Shazam, Billy Batson, and several of their supporting characters appear in three one-minute Shazam! DC Nation cartoon shorts produced in 2014 as interstitials for Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming. Featuring designs inspired by the 1930s Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoons, the three shorts—"Courage", "Wisdom", and "Stamina"—feature Tara Strong reprising her role as the voice of Billy Batson and David Kaye voicing Shazam. Shazam! – Stamina was nominated for the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
Shazam appears as a recurring character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Justice League Action, which debuted in 2016. Shazam and Billy Batson are both voiced by Sean Astin. Billy Batson/Shazam first appears in "Classic Rock" where he is summoned by the Wizard to help fight Black Adam at the Rock of Eternity. After Black Adam trapped Billy by countering the lightning that transforms him, the Wizard is thrown out of the Rock of Eternity and reluctantly gains the assistance of Batman to free Billy and defeat Black Adam. In the episode "Abate and Switch", Batman brings Billy Batson to where the Justice League are fighting Black Adam and Brothers Djinn members Abnegazar, Rath, and Nyorlath. He also appears in the episode "Captain Bamboozled" with Uncle Dudley who gains powers as part of Mister Mxyzptlk's plot.
Shazam also appears as a guest character in the current Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titans Go! He makes a non-speaking appearance in the season 5 episode "Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition". He later had a featured speaking role in the episode "Little Elvis", being voiced by John DiMaggio, with Tara Strong voicing Billy Batson.
Video games
Captain Marvel was a playable character alongside Superman (as the second player option) in the 1980s coin-op of Superman.
Captain Marvel made his official video game appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Stephan Scalabrino and voiced by Kevin Delaney, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. In the story, Captain Marvel is among several DC superheroes teleported to the Mortal Kombat video game universe when the two universes merge, and characters from each franchise are forced to do battle. He also appears as a "jump-in" hero character in the Wii/Nintendo DS adaptations of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Other appearances by Captain Marvel in console games available on multiple platforms included LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (voiced by Travis Willingham), and as a playable character in Infinite Crisis (voiced by Jerry O'Connell). He also appears in the online role-playing game DC Universe Online (voiced by Shannon McCormick).
As Shazam, the hero appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced by Joey Naber. The video game's story depicts Superman becoming a tyrant, with his own Regime of heroes against an Insurgency led by Batman. Shazam is shown as a member of Superman's Regime, but ultimately is murdered by Superman when he questions the Man of Steel's plan to destroy Metropolis and Gotham to 'prove' to the world that his authority is needed. His death prompts the Flash to defect to the Insurgency, which gives the opposing heroes the information they need to stop the Regime. He is mentioned, but does not appear in, the sequel, Injustice 2 on the PC and the console versions, but the movie version of Shazam is playable in the mobile version.
Shazam reappears as a playable character in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. He is able to change into Billy Batson and back at will. This time, Shazam is instantly on the console versions without downloadable content.
Shazam appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Shazam appears in Lego DC Super Villains, voiced by Brandon Routh, while Billy Batson is voiced by Zach Callison. His Earth-3 counterpart Mazahs is also a playable character as well, voiced by Lex Lang. In the DLC add-on based on the 2019 film, Shazam is voiced by Zachary Levi.
Radio
In about 1943, a radio serial of Captain Marvel was briefly broadcast (possibly by either Mutual or NBC) initially with Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. According to Boyar's faint memories in a 2011 interview, the show was initially produced in New York but after about a month relocated to Chicago; no further details about the show or transcripts of it survived. Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.
Comic strips
In 1943, C. C. Beck and writer Rod Reed prepared seven sample installments of a comic strip, but syndicates expressed no interest in it. Reed suspected that the DC lawsuit was the syndicates' reason, for fear of becoming parties in the ongoing litigation.
Cultural impact and legacy
Captain Marvel vs. Superman in fiction
Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable contribution is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The two are often portrayed as equally matched and, while Marvel does not possess Superman's heat vision, X-ray vision or superhuman breath powers, the magic-based nature of his own powers are a weakness for Superman.
The National Comics/Fawcett Comics rivalry was parodied in "Superduperman", a satirical comic book story by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood in the fourth issue of Mad (April/May 1953). Superduperman, endowed with muscles on muscles, does battle with Captain Marbles, a Captain Marvel caricature. Marbles' magic word is "SHAZOOM", which stands for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox (power of), Ox (power of another), and Money. In contrast to Captain Marvel's perceived innocence and goodness, Marbles is greedy and money-grubbing, and a master criminal. Superduperman defeats Marbles by tricking him into hitting himself.
While publishing its Shazam! revival in the 1970s, DC Comics published a story in Superman #276 (June 1974) featuring a battle between the Man of Steel and a thinly disguised version of Captain Marvel called Captain Thunder, a reference to the character's original name. He apparently battles against a Monster League, who cast a spell to make him evil, but Superman helps him break free. Two years later, Justice League of America #135–137 presented a story arc which featured the heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-S teaming together against their enemies. It is in this story that Superman and Captain Marvel first meet, albeit briefly. King Kull has caused Superman to go mad using red kryptonite, compelling Marvel to battle him at first and subsequently restore Superman's mind with the help of lightning.
In Shazam! #30 (1977), Dr. Sivana creates several steel creatures to destroy Pittsburgh's steel mills, after getting the idea from reading an issue of Action Comics. He finally creates a Superman robot made of a super-steel to destroy Captain Marvel. They both hit each other at the same moment, and the robot is destroyed.
Notable later Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1978), All-Star Squadron #36–37 (1984), and Superman vol. 2, #102 (1995). The Superman/Captain Marvel battle depicted in Kingdom Come #4 (1996) serves as the climax of that miniseries, with Marvel having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor and Mister Mind to turn against the other heroes. The "Clash" episode of the DC-based animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, which includes Captain Marvel as a guest character, features a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece, Lex Luthor manipulating events so that Captain Marvel will perceive Superman as being prejudiced against Luthor's criminal past and attacking him without provokation or evidence that Luthor has actually done anything wrong. By contrast, the depiction of the pair's first meeting in the Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder miniseries establishes them as firm friends and allies to the point of Superman volunteering to be Billy's mentor when he learns the boy's true age.
In popular culture
The television character Gomer Pyle is known for uttering the catchphrase "Shazam!" on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..
Al McCoy, longtime radio and TV voice of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, would shout "Shazam!" every time the Suns made a three-point shot.
See also
References
Further reading
Carlinsky, Dan (January 7, 1973). "Return of the World's Mightiest Mortal". New York Sunday News pp. 10–11, 44. On DC's revival of Captain Marvel.
External links
Captain Marvel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
American comics characters
Characters created by Bill Parker (comics)
Characters created by C. C. Beck
Comics characters introduced in 1939
Superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics American superheroes
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics child superheroes
Child superheroes
DC Comics film characters
Fictional orphans
DC Comics orphans
Fictional characters granted magic or power through dealings
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional radio personalities
Fictional twins
Film serial characters
Golden Age superheroes
Male characters in film
Marvel Family
Rapid human age change in fiction
Superheroes who are adopted
Superheroes with alter egos
DC Comics male superheroes | true | [
"Captain Marvel Adventures was a long running comic book anthology series by Fawcett Comics, starring Captain Marvel during the Golden Age of Comic Books.\n\nPublication history\nThe series was the first solo series starring the superhero after he was the star of the anthology title Whiz Comics. It was first released in 1941. The premiere issue was written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The series was a huge success at the time. It sold 14 million copies in 1944, and was at one point being published bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.3 million copies an issue. Several issues of Captain Marvel Adventures included a blurb on their covers proclaiming the series the \"Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine\". The series would be cancelled with issue #150 in November 1953. \n\nOutside of Captain Marvel stories, there were other featured character stories within the anthology every now and then, like Captain Kid. \n\nOtto Binder and C.C. Beck introduced supervillains like Ibac in issue #18, Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil in issue #26 and Mister Atom in issue #78, which would remain recurring antagonists for the superhero. The series' most significant debut was introducing Mary Marvel in issue #18, along with the formation of the Marvel Family. Also introduced was Mr. Tawky Tawny in issue #79.\n\nLegacy\nThe success of the comic series lead DC Comics to file a lawsuit on Fawcett Comics regarding the character being too similar to Superman,Fawcett would forfeit the lawsuit, and DC would win. Many lawyers say Fawcett might have won, if they hadn't given up.\n\nCollected editions\n The Monster Society of Evil: Deluxe Limited Collector's Edition (1989, American Nostalgia Library, ). Compiled and designed by Mike Higgs. Reprints the entire \"Monster Society of Evil\" story arc that ran for two years in Captain Marvel Adventures #22–46 (1943–1945), in which Captain Marvel meets Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil. This oversized, slipcased hardcover book was strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies.\n\nReferences\n\n1941 comics debuts\n1953 comics endings\nMagazines established in 1941\nMagazines disestablished in 1953\nFawcett Comics titles\nGolden Age comics titles\nComics magazines published in the United States\nCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)",
"Charles Clarence Beck (June 8, 1910 – November 22, 1989) was an American cartoonist and comic book artist, best known for his work on Captain Marvel (today known as Shazam!) at Fawcett Comics and DC Comics.\n\nEarly life\nC. C. Beck was born on June 8, 1910, in Zumbrota, Minnesota. Beck's father was a Lutheran minister and his mother was a schoolteacher. He had two older sisters. When he was 15, his family moved to West Bend, Wisconsin. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Minnesota, and also took an art correspondence course.\n\nCareer\n\nFawcett Comics\nIn 1933, Beck joined Fawcett Publications as a staff artist, where he created pulp magazines. When the company began producing comic books in autumn 1939, Beck was assigned to draw a character created by writer Bill Parker called \"Captain Thunder\". Before the first issue of Whiz Comics came out, the character's name was changed to Captain Marvel. Besides Captain Marvel, Beck also drew other Fawcett series, including the adventures of Spy Smasher and Ibis the Invincible.\n\nHis early Captain Marvel stories set the style for the series. Beck favored a cartoony versus realistic rendering of character and setting, which also came to be reflected in the whimsical scripting (by Otto Binder and others). The Captain Marvel stories boasted a clean style which facilitated Beck's assistants and other Fawcett artists emulating Beck's style (one exception was Mac Raboy whose work on Captain Marvel, Jr. was more in the style of Alex Raymond). While Beck oversaw the visual aspects of the various comics featuring Captain Marvel, he emphatically stated in an interview with Tom Heintjes published in Hogan's Alley #3 that he and his fellow artists had no input or influence on the scripts they illustrated, noting \"In the 13 years I spent drawing Captain Marvel, I wrote only one story, about Billy's trip to a Mayan temple [Whiz Comics 22, \"Capt. Marvel and the Temple of Itzalotahui\"], which had to be submitted in typed form and edited and approved before I was allowed to illustrate it.\" At most he allowed the art and editorial departments \"did develop an interplay of ideas ... that kept Captain Marvel changing and developing.\"\n\nThe popularity of Captain Marvel allowed Fawcett to produce a number of spin-off comic books and Beck to open his own New York City comics studio in 1941. He later expanded his studio, adding one in Englewood, New Jersey. Beck's studio supplied most of the artwork in the Marvel Family line of books. In this he acted as Chief Artist (akin to an Art Director), a role Fawcett formally recognized on the contents page of Captain Marvel Adventures. This facilitated Beck's efforts to bring a coherent look to the stories with Captain Marvel and related characters, ensuring they adhered to the style he originated. The studio also did commercial art, most prominently a series of advertisements in comic strip form starring Captain Tootsie promoting Tootsie Roll. Done in the style of the Marvel Family books and similarly whimsical (this Captain had a large T on his shirt instead of a lightning bolt), the ads appeared in comic books published by both Fawcett and its rivals, and in Sunday comic strip sections of newspapers.\n\nAfter years of litigation due to a suit lodged by National Comics Publications (one of the companies that would later become DC Comics) against Fawcett for copyright infringement claiming that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman (see National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.), Fawcett in the early 1950s (partly in response to flagging sales) reached a settlement with DC in which it agreed to discontinue its comic line.\n\nLater work\n\nAfter Fawcett Comics folded, Beck left the comic book industry but continued doing commercial illustrations. With Otto Binder, Beck prepared six sample strips for a proposed newspaper comic strip starring the character Tawky Tawny but it was rejected by the syndicates that saw it. By 1953, Beck had relocated to Florida and owned the Ukulele Bar & Grill in Miami, Florida, where he tended bar. That year he contacted Joe Simon and expressed a desire to re-enter the comic book industry and sought Simon's aid in creating a suitable character. The result was The Silver Spider, with Beck doing rough art from a script by Jack Oleck; Simon used his connections to pitch the property to Harvey Comics but they rejected it. Several years later, in 1959, Simon and Jack Kirby re-worked the Silver Spider concept for publication by Archie Comics as The Fly.\n\nBeck had a short story titled \"Vanishing Point\" published in the July 1959 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.\n\nHis first return to comics was in the mid-1960s for the short-lived Milson Publications who published three issues of his creation Fatman the Human Flying Saucer. This character was almost the inverse of Captain Marvel in appearance and coloration, but with very different powers. Then in 1973 he was the initial artist for DC Comics' revival of Captain Marvel, titled Shazam! due to trademark issues. Beck left after the tenth issue due to \"creative differences\" regarding plotlines. Subsequently, at the invitation of E. Nelson Bridwell, Beck submitted a script for a new story \"Captain Marvel Battles Evil Incarnate.\" After Bridwell returned it with extensive editorial changes Beck attempted to draw the rewritten version but became so dissatisfied with it that he tore up the artwork he had drawn thus far and returned the Bridwell draft to DC.\n\nIn his retirement, Beck produced a regular opinion column for The Comics Journal entitled \"The Crusty Curmudgeon\". One of his chief topics was his objections to what he saw as the growing realism in comics art (versus the simpler style he had employed). In the early 1970s, he tutored the filmmaker and special effects artist John R. Ellis.\n\nBeck was guest of honor at the 1973 Comic Art Convention and the 1977 San Diego Comic Book Convention, memorably at the latter he in the evening played guitar serenading fans and guests poolside at the El Cortez Hotel. Beck attended the initial OrlandoCon in 1974 and was a regular attendee into the early 1980s. He was also a guest at the 1982 Minneapolis Comic-Con.\n\nBeck in his later years began doing paintings recreating the covers of Golden Age comic books, both those featuring Captain Marvel and other superheroes and even some of funny animals (Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny). Beck's painting inspired by Carl Barks' unused cover sketch for the story \"The Mines of King Solomon\" (Uncle Scrooge #19, Sept.–Nov. 1957) was used as the cover when the story was reprinted in Gladstone Comic Album #1 (1987).\n\nIn April 1980 Beck became the editor of the newsletter of the Fawcett Collectors of America, which he renamed FCA/SOB for Fawcett Collectors of America/Some Opinionated Bastards (the latter phrase humorously referring to himself). Failing health forced Beck to resign the editorship after nineteen issues (Newsletter #30, dated May/June 1983).\n\nBeck died in Gainesville, Florida of a renal ailment.\n\nAwards\nBeck was recognized for his work with a formal nomination as a finalist for the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and induction in 1997. He was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1977 he was awarded an Inkpot by the San Diego Comic Con.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n C.C. Beck – The Life and Work of a Genius\n \n \n \n The seven deadly sins of comics creators, by C.C. Beck\n Tom Heintjes' interview with C.C. Beck\n \"Vanishing Point\" on Project Gutenberg\n Beck's self portrait\n Comic Book Awards Almanac\n Toonopedia entry on Captain Tootsie\n New York Times obituary\n\n1910 births\n1989 deaths\n20th-century American artists\nAmerican comics artists\nAmerican Lutherans\nFawcett Comics\nGolden Age comics creators\nInkpot Award winners\nPeople from Zumbrota, Minnesota\nUniversity of Minnesota alumni\nWill Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees"
]
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[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings"
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | Did the show have good ratings in the beginning? | 1 | Did The Drew Carey Show have good ratings in the beginning? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"Park Jin-young's Party People () is a South Korean television program hosted by Park Jin-young. It airs on SBS on Saturday at 00:15 (KST) beginning 23 July 2017. It is mainly a music talk show with the atmosphere of a club, with alcoholic drinks.\n\nEpisodes\n\nProgram\n\nThe program usually has a segment called Song Grabbing (), where guests each choose a song and perform it in a different way from the original song.\n\nRatings \n In the ratings below, the highest rating for the show will be in red, and the lowest rating for the show will be in blue each year.\n NR denotes that the show did not rank in the top 20 daily programs on that date.\n\nExternal links\n\nReferences \n\n2017 South Korean television series debuts\nKorean-language television shows\nSeoul Broadcasting System original programming\nSouth Korean music television shows\n2017 South Korean television series endings",
"\"Quest for Ratings\" is the eleventh episode in the eighth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 122nd episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 17, 2004.\n\nIn the episode, the boys produce their own morning news show on the school's closed-circuit television station and are immediately caught up in an intense competition for ratings.\n\nPlot\nStan, Cartman, Kyle, Butters, Jimmy and Token are taping \"Super School News\", a newscast airing on South Park Elementary's closed-circuit television system. Cartman and Jimmy play the leading roles as head anchors, Butters is the entertainment and celebrity reporter, Stan is a field reporter, Token is the meteorologist, and Kyle does sports. However, after their news program airs, their teacher Mr. Meryl tells them that they did horribly in the ratings, trailing far behind Craig's home video show, \"Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens\", which they consider pointless and banal. (The footage is accompanied by the tune Yakety Sax.)\n\nThe news team then pledges to make a program that will be a ratings booster and gain the attention of all students. They rename the show \"Sexy Action School News\" and add flashy elements (in a parody of various infotainment shows), including random \"Panda Madness Minutes\" in which the newscasters spontaneously dance with pandas. However, nothing seems to work; although they beat Craig's original series, they fall far behind his new show, \"Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats\".\n\nTo get ideas, the boys decide to get high on cough medicine. They begin to experience weird hallucinations and start wandering through South Park behaving strangely. They eventually retire to their ideas room, and watch Craig's show with stoned expressions, and find it awesome.\n\nWhen they come around, their notepads contain nothing useful. Then Stan realizes that the video they were watching all night while under the influence of cough medicine—and concluded was the 'greatest show ever'—was Craig's show. They realize that Craig's show gets such good ratings because most of the school must be high on cough medicine. They then decide to produce a special report that gets cough medicine banned from school.\n\nSoon after, the ratings drop and Craig's show is cancelled, as the children are no longer high and therefore no longer enjoy the show. To emphasize the importance of good ratings, the AV teacher then suspends Craig from school and requests the removal of his testicles. Satisfied with their results, the \"Sexy Action School News\" team discovers the curse of a successful show: each subsequent episode has to be just as good. Back in the writer's room, they come up with nothing and eventually decide to just \"bail\".\n\nProduction\nWith the 2008 DVD release of the eighth season, many of the audio commentaries revealed that much of the lack of ideas was because Team America: World Police, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's concurrent film, had just been through a long, grueling post-production which left the staff low on energy:\n\nHome release\n\"Quest for Ratings\", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Parks eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on August 29, 2006. The set includes brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Quest for Ratings Full episode at South Park Studios\n Quest for Ratings Episode guide at South Park Studios\n \n\nAmerican news parodies\nSouth Park (season 8) episodes\nCats in entertainment\nDogs in popular culture\nGiant pandas in popular culture\nTelevision episodes about animals\nTelevision episodes about drugs\nTelevision episodes about journalism"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1."
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | How many seasons were there? | 2 | How many seasons were there for The Drew Carey Show? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"Here is a list of all of KF Tirana's Cup seasons from 1939 till end of most recent season. This list shows where they finished the season, how many ties won or lost, how many goals they scored and conceded, how many wins draws and losses they had throughout the season, goal difference, winning difference and number of matches played.\n\nAlbanian Cup Performance Table\n\n Appearances: 70 Seasons\n Winners: 16 Times\n Runners-up: 10 Times\n Semi Finals: 36 Times\n Quarter Finals: 55 Times\n Ties Won: 194 Times\n Ties Lost: 53 Times\n\n Data missing from few of Cup seasons, thus the correct total figures in bold differ from some of added sums on the table above.\n\nAll Finals results\n\nHead-to-head\n\n Data missing from few of Cup seasons, thus the correct total figures in bold differ from some of added sums on the table above.\n Last updated: 70th Cup\n\nRecent seasons\n\nAlso look\n\nKF Tirana Statistics in Albanian Superliga\n\nReferences\n\nKF Tirana",
"How I Met Your Music is the name of two albums (the first being followed by the subtitle Original Songs from the Hit Series \"How I Met Your Mother\", the second being followed by Deluxe) composed of songs from the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, the first of which was released hours before the Season 8 premiere. It features 20 songs that had appeared in the first seven seasons of the show and was released only digitally, originally through iTunes. A second iteration, titled How I Met Your Music: Deluxe album, was released a year later. It contains an entirely different play list. Many critics have said that the albums reflect the series' consistently effective use of music.\n\nShow soundtrack summaries\nCritics have often commented on the series' \"thoughtful\" use of music. As Rolling Stone noted:\nMaybe you liked the show's soundtrack better than its 'surprise' ending? It may have gotten lost in all the meeting-the-mother mythology, catchphrases, slaps and recurring gags, but How I Met Your Mother was an incredibly musically-minded sitcom... the show had some truly catchy original tunes, ranging from teen pop... to show tunes... to death metal... . If that weren't enough, HIMYM has also been incredibly adept at matching great scenes with great songs.\n\nOne critic said the show makes \"flawless\" music choices that meld with the story. Jessica Blankenship wrote that the show's writers seamlessly \"use a song as a punchline, a bridge, or an emotional punctuation mark.\" It was a hallmark of the series.\n\nIn 9 seasons (208 episodes), at least 408 songs were used.\n\nViewers report that the soundtrack varies depending upon forums and media. It is claimed there is a significant discontinuity in the songs that were originally used, the DVD version, and the Netflix versions of the show.\n\nThe 100th episode was dubbed \"How I Met Your Musical\", which presaged the albums' names.\n\nThe albums\nThe very concept of \"best\" songs from the series is problematic as the many lists of 'iconic' songs vary.\n\nThe first album contained about 20 tracks totaling 40 minutes. According to Craig Thomas, a co-creator of How I Met Your Mother, a decision was made to release it without a physical CD, \"because that’s so 1992\".\nEntitled How I Met Your Music: Original Songs from the Hit Series, it was originally released digitally to iTunes in 2012, and featured songs from the first seven seasons of the show.\n\nFollowing the show's end, a second album, How I Met Your Music: Deluxe, was released digitally via iTunes in 2014. It features songs from the final two seasons. One review says it contains 14 of the \"most memorable songs of the nine seasons of the series.\" It includes various actors/artists as performers: Boyz II Men, Wayne Brady, Frances Conroy, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow, Sam Moore, Cristin Milioti, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, The Solids, John Swihart, and Ben Vereen.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nCitations\n\n2012 soundtrack albums\nTelevision soundtracks\nHow I Met Your Mother"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time."
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue? | 3 | Did The Drew Carey Show ratings fall during the 9th season and is that why the show didn't continue? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"The New Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. It was Van Dyke's first return to series television since The Dick Van Dyke Show.\n\nBackground\nCBS was so eager to have Dick Van Dyke return to their network that they signed him to a three-year contract. Van Dyke was living in Cave Creek, Arizona, at the time and did not want to move back to Hollywood, so the network agreed to film the show at Southwestern Studio on Stage 1 in nearby Carefree, Arizona. Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner wrote and directed numerous episodes, also serving as creative consultant.\n\nCast\nDick Van Dyke as Dick Preston\nHope Lange as Jenny Preston\nMarty Brill as Bernie Davis\nFannie Flagg as Mike Preston\nNancy Dussault as Carol Davis\nAngela Powell as Annie Preston\n\nEpisodes\n\nVan Dyke starred as Dick Preston, a local television talk show host at KXIV-TV in Phoenix, Arizona (the KXIV call sign actually belonged to a Phoenix radio station that Van Dyke co-owned). Like Van Dyke's previous series, this show divided its time between Dick's job in television and his home life with his wife and child. The show featured Hope Lange as his wife, Jenny; Arizona native Angela Powell as their daughter, Annie; Fannie Flagg as his sister, Mike; David Doyle as his boss, Ted; and Marty Brill and Nancy Dussault as the Prestons' friends, Bernie and Carol Davis. The Prestons also had a son, Lucas (played by Michael Shea seasons 1–2; Wendell Burton season 3), who was away at college and seen occasionally. Jenny also gave birth to another son, Chrissy during season 1.\n\nBroadcast history and Nielsen ratings\n\nThe show's Nielsen ratings were good during the first season. The show had a timeslot in CBS's highly rated Saturday night lineup which included All in the Family, Funny Face and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which starred Van Dyke's former co-star. The ratings, however, were much lower than the shows surrounding it. In its second season, the show was moved to the network's low-rated Sunday night lineup and the ratings plummeted. CBS wanted to cancel the show but they had Van Dyke under a three-year contract, so the network decided to retool the show.\n\nThe final season\nFor the third season, the setting and production of the show moved to Hollywood. Dick and his family moved there after he landed a role in a medical soap opera called Those Who Care in which he played Dr. Brad Fairmont. With the exception of Van Dyke, Lange and Powell, none of the other original cast members appeared in season 3. New cast members included Dick Van Patten as the show's producer, Barry Gordon as the show's writer, Henry Darrow as the stage manager, Barbara Rush as the show's star, and Richard Dawson and Chita Rivera as the Prestons' neighbors. In the fall of 1973, the beginning of its third year, CBS gave the series another time slot, this time on Monday nights at 9:30 P.M. immediately following Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball. The network felt that Ball's series would provide a strong lead-in for The New Dick Van Dyke Show.\n\nAn episode produced for the third season, \"Lt. Preston of the 4th Cavalry,\" included an off-camera scene in which Annie, Dick and Jenny's daughter, walked in on her parents having sex. CBS refused to air the episode, claiming it was incompatible with Van Dyke's family-friendly image. This so incensed Carl Reiner that he refused to continue on the show beyond the third season, citing the network's hypocrisy. CBS at this time was allowing a number of other shows, such as All in the Family, which featured Reiner's son, Rob, to deal openly with much more controversial topics. Reiner promised never to work in television, particularly CBS, again.\n\nAlthough the show's ratings improved, Van Dyke did not enjoy working away from his home and did not want to continue the show without Reiner. After the third season, he chose not to renew his contract and moved back to Arizona, prompting the cancellation of the show.\n\nSyndication\nThe show was rarely run in syndication, though various local stations aired it occasionally in the 1970s. In the early 1990s, reruns aired briefly on TNT. In 2002, the Christmas episode \"The Jailbird\" aired as part of TVLand's traditional classic Christmas show marathon. In 2004, the show aired on GoodLife TV Network. The reruns included the previously unaired episode \"Lt. Preston of the 4th Cavalry\".\n\nReferences\nNotes\n\nSources\nBilly Ingram, TVparty!\n\nExternal links\n\n \n\n1971 American television series debuts\n1974 American television series endings\n1970s American sitcoms\n1970s American workplace comedy television series\nCBS original programming\nTelevision series about families\nTelevision series by Warner Bros. Television Studios\nTelevision series about television\nTelevision shows set in Carefree, Arizona\nDick Van Dyke\nTelevision series created by Carl Reiner",
"Taste of Love () is a South Korea reality show program on TV Chosun. Season 1 was televised on TV Chosun every Thursday at 23:00 (KST) starting from September 16, 2018 and ended February 22, 2019. Season 2 started broadcast on 23 May 2019.\n\nSynopsis \nIn the show, a celebrity and non-celebrity date for 100 days, under contract. After the 100 days has passed, the couple decide whether they want to continue dating or not.\n\nMain MC\n\nFixed Panelist MC\n\nCast\n\nSeason 1\n\nSeason 2\n\nSeason 3\n\nRatings \n In the ratings below, the highest rating for the show will be in , and the lowest rating for the show will be in each year.\n Ratings listed below are the individual corner ratings of Taste of Love. (Note: Individual corner ratings do not include commercial time, which regular ratings include.)\n\nSeason 1\n\nSeason 2\n\nSeason 3\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official Website for Season 1 \n Official Website for Season 2 \n Official Website for Season 3 \n\nSouth Korean variety television shows\nSouth Korean television shows\nKorean-language television shows\n2018 South Korean television series debuts\nSouth Korean reality television series"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time.",
"Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue?",
"The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season."
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 4 | In addition to placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings its first season and finishing 57th during the 9th season, are there any other interesting aspects about The Drew Carey Show in this article? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | 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"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time.",
"Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue?",
"The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings"
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | Did Drew Carey help write the show? | 5 | Did Drew Carey help write The Drew Carey Show? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"\"Pilot\" is the first episode and the series premiere of the American sitcom The Drew Carey Show. It first aired on September 13, 1995, on the ABC network in the United States. The premise of the show revolves around the life Drew Carey would have lived if he had not become a stand-up comedian. The pilot introduces the main characters of Drew (Carey), Kate (Christa Miller), Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader), as well as Drew's workplace, the fictional Winfred-Lauder department store, and enemy Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney).\n\nThe pilot was written by series co-creators Carey and Bruce Helford, while Michael Lessac directed. It was shot in April 1995 at the Warner Bros. Television studios in Burbank, California. The episode ranked joint 29th in television programs with the most viewers for the week of September 11–17, 1995. Critical response was mixed, with many comparing the show to the NBC sitcom Friends. Ray Richmond from the Los Angeles Daily News praised Carey's performance, but thought the episode did not click, while Variety's Tony Scott liked the opening sequence and Lessac's \"inventive\" direction.\n\nPlot\nThe episode opens with Drew (Drew Carey) and his friends Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader) in their local bar, the Warsaw Tavern, discussing Brad Pitt. The following day, Drew's best friend Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller) tells him that she has broken up with her boyfriend, who then fired her from her job as a receptionist at his body shop. Desperate for a job, Kate asks Drew to hire her at the Winfred-Louder department store where he is the assistant director of personnel. Drew insists that he cannot hire his friends. At Winfred-Louder, Drew's boss Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak) asks him to hire someone for a position at the cosmetics counter. While conducting interviews, Drew meets Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a hostile woman who wears too much eye shadow. Drew tries to be polite, but Mimi soon realizes he is not going to give her the job and accuses Drew of being sexist. Mimi complains to Mr. Bell about Drew, getting him into trouble.\n\nLater at the Warsaw Tavern, Drew is hanging out with his friends when Mimi walks in and confronts him. Drew talks to her honestly about why she did not get the job, telling her that her attitude is the problem and she has to deal with the fact that her looks might stop her from getting some jobs. Mimi does not like Drew's advice and leaves the bar. Needing to fill the cosmetics position quickly, Drew believes he has found an ideal candidate in Natalie (Natasha Silver) until Kate turns up to apply for the job. Drew admits that he is worried that Kate will hate him if he has to fire her. However, Mr. Bell insists Drew hire Kate, having seen her in the lobby and Drew agrees. Kate later comes to Drew's house to ask him, Lewis and Oswald, which perfume samples to promote. The episode ends with Drew playing pool in his garden in the rain, while the others watch through the window.\n\nProduction\n\nConception and writing\n\nDrew Carey and Bruce Helford co-created The Drew Carey Show. Having worked together twice before on The Good Life and Someone Like Me, Carey joined up with Helford and told him he wanted to develop his own show. They each came up with various ideas and created The Drew Carey Show. Carey later told a group of television critics at the network launch that the series was originally going to be called The Drew F...ing Carey Show, saying \"We were going to call it The Drew F. Carey Show and see if anybody at home could figure it out!\"\n\nThe show revolved around the life Carey would have lived if he had not become a stand-up comedian. Carey told Helford that he thought he would have been employed in a mid-level management job, which was a relatable job for most Americans at the time. Carey wanted a show that was about regular people. He also wanted to set the show in Cleveland as it was his hometown and it was not getting a lot of attention. Carey and Helford drove to the city together in January 1995 to do some research. They toured the local bars to try to get the right look for the show's bar the Warsaw Tavern. Carey and Helford also heard the song \"Moon Over Parma\" in one of the bars and it was used during the title sequence.\n \nCarey and Helford co-wrote the pilot episode together. Helford had expected The Drew Carey Show to air at 8:30pm. When ABC placed the show in the 7:30 pm slot, Helford agreed to soften the language in the pilot. An executive from Standards and Practices had asked for nine words deemed offensive to be removed from the script, as well as a mention of Jack Daniel's and a line that implied one of the characters was going to buy and use drugs.\n\nCasting\n\nCarey plays a fictionalized version of himself. Drew is an assistant director of personnel at the Winfred-Lauder department store. Carey explained \"I wanted a white-collar job with no authority and a bad boss. Someone to do all the work and get no credit. He could've worked in a bank, in insurance.\" Carey said it was \"a no-brainer\" on settling on the character, saying \"It's just me.\" While Christa Miller was trying out for the role of Drew's close friend Kate O'Brien, ABC thought she might be too inexperienced for the role and they asked to see her appearance in the Seinfeld episode \"The Doodle\". The episode had yet to be aired and Miller had to beg the show's co-creator Larry David for a rough cut to show to ABC. Miller went on to secure the role of Kate and Helford considered her to be the only person right for the role.\n\nRyan Stiles won the role of \"hapless janitor\" Lewis Kiniski. Despite being well known for his role on the British improve show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Stiles still had to go through the audition process along with everybody else. He said, \"I don't even think Drew was really even aware of Whose Line at that time because it hadn't been on the air (in the U.S.) that many years. I think it was only on Comedy Central at that time.\" Stiles admitted that he liked to have fun with his character and not psychoanalyze him. Following his appearance in The Beverly Hillbillies, Diedrich Bader realised he needed a regular income and decided to return to television. He tested out for The Drew Carey Show, but did not initially want to be cast in it. He told Kevin Smith that he wanted to drive up his price for the pilot of Partners. Bader lost out on the role of Bob to Jon Cryer and then learned The Drew Carey Show wanted to hire him to play Oswald Lee Harvey.\n\nThe role of Mimi Bobeck went to Kathy Kinney. The actress was originally intended to be a one-episode guest star, but became a series regular when Helford noticed during editing of the pilot that the funniest scenes were those featuring Mimi. Kinney was hired for a further seven episodes, but eventually appeared in every episode. Robin Rauzi, writing for The Sun-Herald, branded Mimi \"a moving visual assault with a personality to match\" because of her painted-on eyebrows, bright eyeshadow and gaudy clothes. After relocating from Chicago, Ian Gomez spent a year auditioning for various shows, before being cast in the recurring role of Larry Almada in 1995. Other actors who appear in the pilot are Alaina Reed Hall, David St. James, Lauren Katz, Vic Helford and Natasha Silver.\n\nFilming\nThe pilot was shot in April 1995 and directed by Michael Lessac. Although set in Cleveland, the show was actually filmed at the Warner Bros. Television studios in Burbank, California. Helford had noticed that the cast did not look at each other while saying their lines and he tried to encourage them to look at one another, so they would laugh. Helford told Lessac to bring the cast in on a weekend, where there was no pressure, so they could \"goof around\" and relax. Drew's job required him to work from a cubicle and Helford stated that no one had really done a show dealing with that situation, as producers and networks felt it was too confined. Helford disagreed and had a set where an accessible cubicle was the centerpiece designed and built. The Memphis Plaza Lounge in Old Brooklyn was the inspiration for the show's bar The Warsaw Tavern. The owner of the Lounge refused to sell the naming rights to Warner Bros, but he did agree that they could film the front of the building. The crew shot the building in 1995 and temporarily replaced The Memphis Plaza Lounge sign with their own Warsaw Tavern one. The sign was hung in the front window for two years before Warner Bros. took it down.\n\nReception\nThe episode finished joint 29th among 108 prime-time shows in the Nielsen ratings for the week of September 11–17, 1995. It came second both in households and among adults 18–49 with a 10.8/18 and 7.2 rating/share, respectively.\n\n\"Pilot\" received mixed reviews from television critics. Ray Richmond from the Los Angeles Daily News branded the show a \"Friends clone\", but praised Carey, calling him \"the season's quirkiest, most uproarious talent\". He also thought that he was \"immensely lovable\". Richmond added \"The pilot never quite clicks, but you can feel the potential. And spread inside an Ellen/Grace Under Fire sandwich, it'll be difficult for it to miss.\" Lon Grahnke from the Chicago Sun-Times thought the show would be a \"probable hit\" based on the \"Pilot\". He also observed that the show is \"a Cleveland variation of Friends, and thought the early time slot was a turn off, as it required the language to be toned-down. David Zurawik from The Baltimore Sun awarded the episode a C+ and branded it \"a blue-collar Friends.\n\nThe Boston Globe's Frederic M. Biddle gave the episode one and a half stars and commented \"Carey always keeps you watching, although he's always threatening to be funnier than he is. But more than any other Friends ripoff, this show's supporting actors slow down the central character – they're set decoration. Comic scenes involving the full cast build, then trip over themselves.\" Alan Pergament, writing for The Buffalo News, included The Drew Carey Show in his Top 10 new shows, noting \"Carey is a lovable goof and his male buddy show has the chance of becoming the male version of Designing Women.\" Pergament cited the lack of prominent female characters and \"a reliance on too many risque-language jokes\" as the weaknesses of the show. The Washington Post's Tom Shales found the episode funny, adding \"The Drew Carey Show bucks all the prevailing sitcom trends and does it endearingly.\"\n\nTony Scott, a critic for Variety, thought the characters were \"amiable enough\", but they needed \"sharper dialogue and fresher observations.\" Scott did not think the carpool segment worked, but he liked the opening sequence in the bar. He also praised Lessac's direction, calling it \"inventive\". Peter Weiniger from The Age was prepared to give the series a chance based on the episode, saying \"Like most American sitcoms, The Drew Carey Show has its share of snappy one-liners but it gives the impression of trying a little too hard. To be fair, this is the first of a series, and we have yet to see the characters develop. Even Seinfeld took a little time to become essential viewing.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Drew Carey Show episodes\n1995 American television episodes\nDrew Carey Show, The",
"Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and as host of the U.S. version of the improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC. He then appeared in several films, television series, music videos, a made-for-television film, and a computer game. He has hosted the game show The Price Is Right since October 15, 2007 on CBS.\n\nCarey is interested in a variety of sports and has worked as a photographer at U.S. National Team soccer games. He is a minority owner of the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC, which won the MLS Cup, first in 2016 and again in 2019. He briefly participated in professional wrestling, most notably entering the 2001 Royal Rumble, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.\n\nCarey's autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined, details his early life and television career.\n\nEarly life and education\n\nCarey was born on May 23, 1958. He is the youngest of Lewis and Beulah Carey's three sons (Neil, 1946-2010 and Roger, born 1952) and was raised in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. When Drew was eight years old, his father died from a heart attack. Drew played the cornet and trumpet in the marching band of James Ford Rhodes High School, from which he graduated in 1975.\n\nHe continued on to college at Kent State University (KSU) and was a part of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He was expelled twice for poor academic performance. He left KSU after three years. Upon leaving the university, Carey enlisted into the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1980 and served for six years as a field radio operator in the 25th Marine Regiment in Ohio. He moved to Las Vegas for a few months in 1983, and for a short time worked as a bank teller and a waiter at Denny's.\n\nCareer\n\nStand-up career\nIn 1985, he began his comedy career by following up on a suggestion by David Lawrence (a disc jockey friend who had been paying Drew to write jokes for David's radio show in Cleveland) to go to the library and borrow books on how to write jokes. The following year, after winning an open mic contest, he became Master of Ceremonies at the Cleveland Comedy Club. He performed at comedy clubs over the next few years in Cleveland and Los Angeles. He first came to the national eye as a comedian when he competed in the 1988 Star Search. Carey was working as a stand-up comedian when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in November 1991. His performance that night impressed Carson, who invited Carey to the couch next to his desk; this was considered a rare honor for any comedian. In that same year, Carey joined the 14th Annual Young Comedians Special on HBO and made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1994, Carey wrote his own stand-up comedy special, Drew Carey: Human Cartoon, which aired on Showtime and won a CableACE Award for Best Writing.\n\nActing career\n\nEarly roles\nHis early stand-up career led to supporting roles on television shows, during which he developed the character of a hapless middle-class bachelor. In 1993, Carey had a small role in the film Coneheads as a taxi passenger. In 1994, Carey co-starred with John Caponera in The Good Life, a short-lived sitcom on NBC. After the show was cancelled, Bruce Helford, a writer on the show, hired Carey as a consultant for the television show Someone Like Me.\n\nThe Drew Carey Show\nAfter their stint on Someone Like Me, Carey and Helford developed and produced the storyline for The Drew Carey Show. The sitcom revolved around a fictionalized version of Carey, as he took on the stresses of life and work with his group of childhood friends. The show premiered on September 13, 1995, on ABC. In his autobiography, Carey revealed his frustration with having to deal with censors and being unable to employ the off-color humor common in his stand-up routines. Carey initially earned $60,000 per episode in the first seasons, then renegotiated for $300,000. By the final season, he was earning $750,000 per episode. The show had high ratings for its first few seasons, but declining ratings and increasing production costs (around $3 million per episode) precipitated its cancellation. The program had a total of 233 episodes over its nine-year run, and Carey was one of four actors to appear in every episode.\n\nImprov television\nWhile still starring in The Drew Carey Show, Carey began hosting the American version of the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 1998. He would announce the improv cast, direct the games, and then would usually involve himself in the final game of the episode. The show ran for a total of 220 episodes until cancellation in 2006 (it returned with a different host in 2013). In 1998, the New York Friars' Club made Carey the newest inductee of the group's Comedy Central Roast. His friend Ryan Stiles (who costarred in The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) served as the roastmaster. Carey's income from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show led to his inclusion on the Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers of 1998, at 24th with $45.5 million.\n\nFor the WB's 2004–2005 prime time schedule, Carey co-produced and starred in Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, a spin-off of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. It was canceled by the WB, but picked up shortly afterward by Comedy Central. The show's premise relied on the use of a green screen for some of the actors' improv interaction with each other. Animation on the screen was visible to the live audience and it was also inserted during post-production for the television audience.\n\nIn April 2011, Carey began hosting a primetime improv show, called Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. It was filmed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, and first aired on April 11. The show took on the premise of Whose Line? and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show in that it features many of the same performers from both shows and did improv based on audience-provided suggestions.\n\nImprov All-Stars\nCarey was one of the founders of the Improv All-Stars, a group of eleven actors who perform in unscripted skits. The group joined Carey in all three of his improv shows, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, and Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza, and some members had major roles or guest-starred on The Drew Carey Show. The Improv All-Stars travel on comedy tours, performing at comedy clubs throughout the United States.\n\nGame show host\n\nPower of 10\nBeginning in 2007, Carey began hosting game shows, beginning with his April selection as host of the CBS game show pilot Power of 10. The show ran from August 7, 2007, to January 23, 2008, and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game featured contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS.\n\nThe Price Is Right\n\nAfter taping the pilot episode for Power of 10, Carey was contacted by CBS about replacing Bob Barker—who had earlier announced his own retirement—as host of The Price Is Right. After initially turning down the offer, Carey announced on Late Show with David Letterman that he would succeed Barker as host of the program beginning in the fall of 2007. His first episode of The Price Is Right was taped on August 15, 2007, and his shows began airing on October 15, 2007. In response to replacing Barker as host of the game show, Carey stated \"You can't replace Bob Barker. I don't compare myself to anybody... It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this.\" When Carey began hosting, the set, theme music, and show logo were updated. Carey has retained the application of Barker's closing comment about spaying and neutering pets. In 2017, Carey celebrated his tenth anniversary as host of the show.\n\nOther roles and appearances\n\nCarey began appearing in commercials for restaurants in the late 1990s in Canada with The Great Root Bear, but his two-year contract with A&W Food Services of Canada was cut short in November 1998 after an episode of The Drew Carey Show featured McDonald's. As a result of his dismissal, Carey sued A&W for compensation.\n\nDisney's Hollywood Studios (then \"Disney-MGM Studios\"), part of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, debuted a 12-minute attraction in 1999 titled Sounds Dangerous!. In the show, a camera follows Carey through a day as an undercover detective. When his video camera fails, the audience is left in complete darkness, wearing earphones, following his adventure through sound cues. The attraction is now closed.\n\nIn 2000, Carey was given a cameo appearance in the House Party expansion pack of the computer game The Sims. To make him appear, the characters in the game must throw a successful party, which causes Carey to arrive in a limo and join the festivities. Carey is a fan of The Sims series, and during one April Fool's episode of The Drew Carey Show, a scene takes place completely within The Sims. Carey made several other cameo appearances in music videos, including \"Weird Al\" Yankovic's 1999 video for \"It's All About the Pentiums\" and Fountains of Wayne's 2004 video for \"Mexican Wine\", giving an introduction to the video as if it were on a stage.\n\nOn January 21, 2001, Drew entered as Vince McMahon's guest entrant in the Royal Rumble match.\n\nAlthough primarily known for his television work, Carey has done limited film work, with his first appearance in 1993's Coneheads. His next film was the 2000 television film Geppetto, which debuted on The Wonderful World of Disney. The film, an adaptation of Pinocchio, included actor Wayne Brady, who had joined Carey on his improv shows. Carey took singing lessons to prepare for the role. In 2005, Carey appeared in three films: the animated film Robots, where he provided a voice-over for the character Crank; The Aristocrats, where he retold a dirty joke along with other celebrities; and the documentary Fuck, where he was interviewed.\n\nCarey provided the entertainment for the 2002 Annual White House correspondents' dinner. Once Carey completed his stand-up routine for the 1,800 guests, President George W. Bush, noting Carey's improv work, made a joke of his own: \"Drew? Got any interest in the Middle East?\" In 2003, he joined Jamie Kennedy to host the WB's live special Play for a Billion. In September 2003, Carey led a group of comedians, including Blake Clark and The Drew Carey Show's Kathy Kinney, on a comedy tour of Iraq.\n\nOn June 8, 2006, Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures debuted on the Travel Channel. In this series, Carey traveled throughout Germany to photograph multiple FIFA World Cup soccer games while he immerses himself in the culture of the towns and states he visits. In early 2008, Carey appeared in Matt Groening's The Simpsons as part of the episode \"All About Lisa\" as a guest on the Krusty the Clown Show. He also surfaced in the second season of Community, playing a well-liked former boss to Jeff Winger.\n\nOn March 4, 2014, it was announced on Good Morning America that Carey would compete on the season 18 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Cheryl Burke. The couple was eliminated on the sixth week of competition, finishing in 8th place.\n\nCarey has also been a longtime host on SiriusXM channel, Little Steven's Underground Garage (Ch. 21) where for 10 years, he hosted a three-hour radio show called \"Drew Carey's Friday Night Dance Party\" which aired the last Friday of every month. In August 2018, Carey turned his monthly show into a weekly show called, \"The Friday Night Freak Out\" which airs every Friday from 8:00pm to 11:00pm ET on SiriusXM.\n\nIn 2018, Carey appeared in an episode of NCIS as a retired Marine. His character was a sergeant, the last rank he held in real life. Real pictures of him in dress blues and everyday garb were on the plasma screen in the squadroom.\n\nIn 2020, Carey appeared as a contestant on the third season of The Masked Singer as \"Llama\". He was the second to be eliminated.\n\nIn 2021, Carey participated in Celebrity Wheel of Fortune alongside Teri Hatcher and Chrissy Metz. He beat his fellow competitors in the first bonus round, but failed to solve the final puzzle.\n\nWriting\nCarey has routinely written throughout his career, including developing his stand-up comedy routines in his early stand-up career, and then moving on to assist in writing sitcoms. In 1997, Carey published his autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined, wherein he shared memories of his early childhood and of his father's death when he was eight. He also revealed that he was once molested, had suffered bouts of depression, and had made two suicide attempts by swallowing a large amount of sleeping pills. The book discusses his college fraternity years while attending Kent State University and his professional career up to that time. The book featured large amounts of profanity and, as the title suggests, includes multiple dirty jokes (there is one at the start of each chapter) and references to beer. The book was featured on The New York Times bestseller list for three months.\n\nPhotography\n\nCarey can sometimes be seen on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer. His images are sold via wire services under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge. He was at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2006, for his television show Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures.\n\nPersonal life\nCarey adopted his crew cut hairstyle while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Carey underwent refractive surgery to correct his vision and, for a time, did not require glasses but continued to wear them in public for purposes of recognition and celebrity identity. However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals. As of 2007, Carey resides in Los Angeles and New York City.\n\nCarey proposed to Nicole Jaracz in 2007 and is a father figure to Connor, her son from a previous relationship. The couple did not wed and called off their engagement in 2012. \n\nIn January 2018, Carey announced his engagement to sex therapist Amie Harwick. The pair ended their engagement later that year in November but remained close. On February 15, 2020, Harwick was found dead in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood and an ex-boyfriend of hers was later arrested on suspicion of her murder.\n\nCarey is a Buddhist.\n\nHealth\nAfter suffering chest pains while filming The Drew Carey Show in August 2001, Carey went to the hospital, where he underwent a coronary angioplasty.\n\nAlthough his weight was a comedic topic throughout his sitcom and improv shows, in 2010, he began a diet and exercise plan, resulting in an extensive weight loss. He also claimed that he had cured his Type 2 diabetes as a direct result. In 2020, he had cataract surgery.\n\nPolitical views\nCarey is an outspoken Libertarian. He has expressed his political philosophy in the following terms: \n\nCarey expressed his distaste for the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War, specifically on the September 14, 2007, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. He made donations to Ron Paul's presidential campaign for the 2008 election. On the September 26, 2008, episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Carey defined \"libertarian\" to host Craig Ferguson as \"a conservative who still gets high.\" In 2016, he supported Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson in his run for office, and was made an Honorary Chair of the campaign for California.\n\nCarey has spoken about his various political beliefs in several interviews, and in 1998, he led a \"smoke-in\" in defiance of California's newly passed no-smoking ordinance inside bars and restaurants. Carey has hosted a series of mini-documentaries called The Drew Carey Project on Reason.tv, an online project of Reason Foundation, a libertarian-oriented nonprofit think tank (for which Carey sits as a member of the board of trustees). The first episode, \"Gridlock\", addresses private highway ownership and was released on October 15, 2007. Other episodes discuss topics such as eminent domain, urban traffic congestion, and medical marijuana.\n\nCarey endorsed and donated money to Joe Biden in the 2020 United States Presidential Election. Earlier in the cycle, he had also donated to Tulsi Gabbard and Bill Weld.\n\nSports involvement\nCarey is a devoted fan of the U.S. National Soccer Team, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians, and the Columbus Blue Jackets. In 1999, Carey was part of the pregame ceremonies at the first game of the return of the Browns, televised on ESPN. Carey attended the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Carey is a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, who began play in Major League Soccer on March 19, 2009, and won two MLS Cups (2016, 2019). Carey is a fan of FC Barcelona and of the Scottish team Rangers. In 2006, he was a season ticketholder for the Los Angeles Galaxy.\n\nCarey has shown his support for the Cleveland baseball team by throwing the first pitch at an August 12, 2006, game against the Kansas City Royals. He was rewarded by them for being \"the greatest Indians fan alive\" with a personal bobblehead doll made in his likeness that was given to fans. Carey responded to his bobblehead likeness by saying \"Bobblehead Day, for me, is as big as getting a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.\"\n\nIn 2001, Carey was the first television actor to enter World Wrestling Federation's 30-man \"Royal Rumble\" match, which he did to promote an improv comedy pay-per-view at the time. He appeared in a few backstage segments before his brief participation in the match. Upon entering the ring, Carey stood unopposed for more than half a minute, but after the next entrant, Kane, refused a monetary bribe, Carey eliminated himself from the match by jumping over the top rope and retreating from ringside. On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Kane.\n\nCarey competed against five other celebrities in the first celebrity edition of the 2003 World Poker Tour. He placed fifth, beating out the only other actor Jack Black. Carey won $2,000 for his charity.\n\nOn May 15, 2011, Carey completed the \"Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon\" in 1:57:02; then, on September 4, 2011, he improved to complete the Disneyland Half Marathon in 1:50:46. And on October 30, 2011, he finished the Marine Corps Marathon with a chip time of 4:37:11, placing 10,149th out of 20,940.\n\nPhilanthropy\nCarey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity. In June 2007, Carey offered to donate up to $100,000 (in $10,000 increments) to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund if anybody could beat him at the video game FIFA Soccer 07 for the Xbox 360. He dared five players from both the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams to compete against him. Carey ended up donating $100,000, plus $60,000 for losing two games out of the six games he played.\n\nIn October 2009, Carey made a bid of $25,000 in a charity auction for the @drew Twitter account. He later increased his offer to $100,000 if the number of followers of his account @DrewFromTV reached 100,000 by the end of the auction. In an interview with CBS News, he said he would instead donate $1 million to the charity Livestrong Foundation if his follower count reached one million by December 31, 2009.\n\nAnother of Carey's offers to contribute in helping others came in September 2014 when he promised $10,000 to help find the perpetrators of a faked \"ice bucket challenge\" involving an autistic 14-year-old Ohio boy who, instead of being doused in ice cubes and water, received a shower of feces, urine, tobacco spit, and cigarette butts. Shortly thereafter, celebrities Donnie Wahlberg, Jenny McCarthy and Montel Williams matched Carey's offer.\n\nFilmography\nCarey has starred in only a few television shows and films, but has made numerous guest-star appearances in a variety of sitcoms and comedy shows.\n\nFilm\n\nTelevision\n\nAwards and honors\n\n 1994: Cable Ace Award for Best Writing: Drew Carey: Human Cartoon\n 1995: TV Guide \"10 Hottest New Faces of 1995\"\n 1998: Satellite Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series\n 2000: Honorary DHL from Cleveland State University\n 2000: People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer\n 2003: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame\n 2004: Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time (#84)\n 2011: Southern California Journalism \"Best Advocacy Journalism\" Award winner\n 2011: WWE Hall of Fame\n\n Two-time MLS Cup champion (as co-owner of the Seattle Sounders - 2016, 2019)\n 2021: United States Navy Memorial Foundation Lone Sailor Award (presented on the July 2, 2021 episode of The Price is Right)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n Drew Carey's blog\n \n \n Drew Carey's WWE Hall of Fame Profile\n \n\n1958 births\nLiving people\n20th-century American comedians\n21st-century American comedians\n21st-century Buddhists\nAmerican Buddhists\nAmerican game show hosts\nAmerican libertarians\nAmerican male film actors\nAmerican male singers\nAmerican male television actors\nAmerican photographers\nAmerican soccer chairmen and investors\nAmerican stand-up comedians\nComedians from Ohio\nKent State University alumni\nMajor League Soccer executives\nMale actors from Cleveland\nThe Price Is Right\nUnited States Marine Corps reservists\nUnited States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers\nWWE Hall of Fame inductees"
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"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time.",
"Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue?",
"The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings",
"Did Drew Carey help write the show?",
"The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season;"
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | What season had the best ratings? | 6 | What season of The Drew Carey Show had the best ratings? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"SCU: Serious Crash Unit is a New Zealand documentary series that aired on TV2. The show was cancelled after seven seasons.\n\nOverview\n\nSCU: Serious Crash Unit follows a New Zealand Police-based Auckland Serious Crash Unit as they investigate crashes and examine the evidence found at the crash scene to find out what happened, and what caused the accident.\n\nEpisodes\n\nSeason 1\n\nSeason 2\n\nSeason 3\n\nSeason 4\n\nSeason 5\n\nSeason 6\n\nSeason 7\n\nBroadcasting\nThe following list is ordered by the date of the series premiere.\n\nRatings\n\nAustralia\nIn Australia, SCU: Serious Crash Unit was watched by 1.4 million viewers in its premiere episode, and received similar ratings in its second week. In its premiere week in Australia, SCU: Serious Crash Unit was the third most watched program in the five mainland state capitals.\n\nThe second series premiered Monday 8:00pm at 1.2 million viewers, and ratings remained between 1.2 and 1.7 million viewers, following a strong lead in from Border Security: Australia's Front Line.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site\n\nNew Zealand documentary television series\n2001 New Zealand television series debuts\nDocumentary television series about policing\nTVNZ 2 original programming\nTVNZ 1 original programming\nTelevision series by Greenstone TV",
"Cheers originally aired on NBC from September 30, 1982 to May 20, 1993. Over the series run, 275 original episodes aired, an average of 25 episodes per season. In the early 1990s, 20 volumes of VHS cassettes were released; each had three half-hour episodes. The whole series is currently available on multi-disc sets on DVD, two to four per season. The series is also available on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video.\n\nSeries overview\n\nEpisodes\n\nSeason 1 (1982–83)\n(Note: DVD Season 1 Disc 1 of the box-set episodes are out of sequence. The following is the correct airing order)\n\nSeason 2 (1983–84)\n\nSeason 3 (1984–85)\n\nSeason 4 (1985–86)\n\nSeason 5 (1986–87)\n\nSeason 6 (1987–88)\n\nSeason 7 (1988–89)\n\nSeason 8 (1989–90)\n\nSeason 9 (1990–91)\n\nSeason 10 (1991–92)\n\nSeason 11 (1992–93)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nRatings notes \n Season 1\nAccording to Los Angeles Times, ratings from 1982 to 1983 were based on 83.3 million households with at least one television set. \"Television Ratings\" column list is located at Part VI, \"Calendar\" section. Below sources originated from Los Angeles Times, republished in microfilm copies, which may be located in your local library.\n\nSeason 2\nExcept where noted, they were originally published in print editions of The Miami Herald newspaper.\n\nSeason 3\nAccording to Los Angeles Times, Nielsen ratings of 1984–85 were based on 84.9 million households.\n\nSeason 4\nAccording to the Daily Breeze, a newspaper from Torrance, California, the 1985–86 ratings are based on 85.9 million households with at least one television.\n\nSeason 5\nAccording to the 15 May 1987 article from The Argus-Press, the 1986-87 ratings were based on 87.4 million households with at least one television set. Unless otherwise, the sources were of the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.\n\nSeason 6\nUnless otherwise, the main source of Nielsen ratings is the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to that main source, ratings of 1987-88 were based on 88.6 million households that have at least one television.\n\nSeason 7\nUnless otherwise, the main source of Nielsen ratings is the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to that main source, ratings of 1988-89 were based on 90.4 million households that have at least one television.\n\nSeason 8\nAccording to many newspapers, including the main source USA Today, the 1989–90 Nielsen ratings are based on 92.1 million households that have at least one television.\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n \nLists of American sitcom episodes\n\nit:Episodi di Cin cin (prima stagione)"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time.",
"Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue?",
"The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings",
"Did Drew Carey help write the show?",
"The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season;",
"What season had the best ratings?",
"During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place"
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | Why did the ratings decline near the end? | 7 | Why did The Drew Carey Show ratings decline near the final season? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"The Great Outdoors was an Australian travel magazine series broadcast on the Seven Network. It began in 1993 and was broadcast regularly until 2009, with a short-lived revival in 2012.\n\nHistory\nSimilar to its long time competitor Getaway, on the Nine Network, the program featured a team of reporters who travelled around Australia and overseas, reporting on travel destinations, tourist attractions and accommodation.\n\nThe program premiered on 5 February 1993 in a 30-minute format and was broadcast on Tuesday evenings at . In 2002, the show was expanded to 60 minutes and moved to the Monday timeslot, where it had stayed until 2006.\n\nAfter suffering a gradual decline in ratings, the show moved to a new timeslot of Saturdays from the 2007 season. On 28 April 2007, the show celebrated 600 episodes, making it one of the longest-running programs on Australian television. However, after further decline in ratings, The Great Outdoors was cancelled in August 2009. The show did briefly return in October 2012 for a revamped series with 8 episodes airing on a Saturday evening at 5pm, with the possibility of a new season in 2013 which did not eventuate.\n\nFormer presenters\n Bridget Adams (1994−2001)\n Ann-Maree Biggar (2004-2005)\n Adam Brand (2012)\n Penny Cook (1993–1996)\n Shelley Craft (2001–2007)\n Neil Crompton\n Laura Csortan (2000–2006)\n Andrew Daddo (1994), (2002–2008)\n Ernie Dingo (1993–2009)\n Andrew Dwyer (1994)\n Sophie Falkiner (1999–2005)\n Rachael Finch (2012)\n Sofie Formica (1993–1994)\n Jennifer Hawkins (2005–2009)\n Tony Johnston (1996), (1999−2001)\n Terasa Livingstone (1998−2001)\n Di Smith (1996–2006)\n Pete Wells (2012)\n Tom Williams (2001−2009), (2012)\n\nSee also \n List of Australian television series\n List of programs broadcast by Seven Network\n List of longest-running Australian television series\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n The Great Outdoors at the National Film and Sound Archive\n\nSeven Network original programming\nAustralian non-fiction television series\n1993 Australian television series debuts\n2009 Australian television series endings\n2012 Australian television series debuts\n2012 Australian television series endings\nAustralian television series revived after cancellation\nAustralian travel television series",
"The third season of Medium, an American television series, began November 15, 2006, and ended on May 16, 2007. It aired on NBC.\n\nProduction\nDespite a decline in the ratings during Season 2, NBC renewed Medium for a third season, but was missing from the fall schedule. The series was slated to return in 2007, however, in October 2006 NBC announced that Medium would return on November 15, 2007 at 9pm with a 2-hour premiere before settling into its 10.00pm slot the following week. The series moved from its previous Monday 10.00pm timeslot to Wednesdays at 10.00pm. Its move to Wednesday, airing against CSI: NY and Lost, resulted in further erosion in the ratings, falling into single digit millions of viewers. The ratings decline resulted in the show being on the bubble for renewal but during the season NBC ordered a full 22 episode season. The show was renewed for a fourth season in May 2007.\n\nCast and characters\n\nMain cast \n Patricia Arquette as Allison DuBois\n Miguel Sandoval as Manuel Devalos\n David Cubitt as Lee Scanlon\n Sofia Vassilieva as Ariel DuBois\n Maria Lark as Bridgette DuBois\n Jake Weber as Joe DuBois\n\nRecurring cast \n Madison and Miranda Carabello as Marie DuBois\n Neve Campbell as Debra\n Tina DiJoseph as Lynn DiNovi\n Ryan Hurst as Michael AKA Lucky Allison's Half Brother\n\nEpisodes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n\nMedium (TV series) seasons\n2006 American television seasons\n2007 American television seasons"
]
|
[
"The Drew Carey Show",
"Ratings",
"Did the show have good ratings in the beginning?",
"The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1.",
"How many seasons were there?",
"ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time.",
"Did the ratings fall during the 9th season and that's why the show didn't continue?",
"The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings",
"Did Drew Carey help write the show?",
"The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season;",
"What season had the best ratings?",
"During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place",
"Why did the ratings decline near the end?",
"Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003,"
]
| C_491e4f668b8340daa195d9605b164dce_0 | What year was the last episode? | 8 | What year was the last episode of The Drew Carey Show? | The Drew Carey Show | The show finished its first season (1995-1996) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing its second season (1996-1997) 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one. The show finished its third season (1997-1998) at a higher place in the ratings, placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season. During its fourth season (1998-1999), the series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season. The show finished its fifth season (1999-2000) 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show was not in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a smaller drop than many other series experienced, given the erosion of network audiences. This was also a smaller drop than the previous season. The show's sixth season (2000-2001) finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season. ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season (2001-2002) at that time. The season saw one of the show's biggest drops in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished its eighth season (2002-2003) season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, a drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, airing the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of the contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to receive a time slot on ABC's fall schedule in 2003, the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. CANNOTANSWER | the show had its ninth and final season burned off during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers. | The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
The show was created by Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.
Produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, it debuted on September 13, 1995, received positive reviews from critics and ranked among the Top 30 programs for four seasons before sliding in popularity. Ratings declined sharply during the final two seasons, and the last two episodes aired on September 8, 2004.
Premise
Drew Carey is a fictionalized version of himself, a self-proclaimed "everyman". Drew Carey (the comedian) has been quoted as saying his character is what the actor would have been if he had not become an actor. He has a "gang" of friends who embark with him on his everyday trials and tribulations. Drew's friends include erudite but unambitious Lewis (Ryan Stiles), excitable dimwitted Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and his friend (later on-off girlfriend) Kate (Christa Miller). In the final two seasons, Kate gets married and moves to Guam, in the same two-part episode that introduces and develops Drew's relationship with Kellie (Cynthia Watros), which carries on over the final two seasons.
For its first seven seasons, Drew's workplace is the office of fictional Cleveland department store Winfred-Louder, where he has worked for years and still works as Assistant Director of Personnel. One of his coworkers is Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney), a large woman with a clownish wardrobe, a lot of make-up (including her trademark bright blue eye shadow), and a foul mutual dislike for Drew. The two eventually become closer (although still maintaining a less heated rivalry), primarily because Mimi fell in love with and married Drew's cross-dressing heterosexual brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch), a frequently recurring character.
In the first season they work for the unseen Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak), only seen in the season one finale, to which he is greeted with applause; in later seasons, their boss and sometimes-co-worker is Nigel Wick (Craig Ferguson), an eccentric, sadistic and unlucky Englishman. In the final two seasons, they work for peaceful, hippie-like Evan (Kyle Howard) and the much more professional Scott (Jonathan Mangum), tech-smart but naïve twenty-somethings who own the Neverending Store, an online retailer with offices in the same location.
In addition to his day job, Drew, along with Oswald, Lewis, and Kate (replaced from around Season 5 onwards by Mimi), runs a small business out of his garage, selling Buzz Beer, a caffeinated alcoholic drink. It becomes popular in the region and is served at the group's hangout, The Warsaw Tavern.
Synopsis
Season 1 (1995–1996)
The first season's opening credits consisted of a caricature of Carey—consisting of his face and a yellow tie—singing the Robert McGuire-penned "Moon Over Parma". The song was trimmed for the opening sequence, and the reference to Eastlake in the line "Guide her to Eastlake underneath your silvery light" was changed to a reference to Cleveland to stay in theme with the show.
In the first season, Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone, excluding the season finale (his final episode, played by Kevin Pollak) wherein he is fired by Winfred-Louder's new owners. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this period were Drew's hillbilly neighbor Jules and his family. Drew's first girlfriend Lisa was introduced in this season, as was Jay, Kate's love interest who used to attend the same high school as Drew and his friends. Both characters lasted until Season 2, where they were quickly written out of the show in the early episodes.
Nine of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way, with names such as "The Joining of Two Unlike Elements Is a Mixture" and "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics". However, this theme was abandoned by the end of the season.
Seasons 2–7 (1996–2002)
"Moon Over Parma" was phased out during the second season by "Five O'Clock World" sung by The Vogues. This season introduced openings that paid homage to music videos which included the cast dancing and singing around the various sets of the show.
In the third season, the opening theme was changed to "Cleveland Rocks", a cover of an Ian Hunter song performed by The Presidents of the United States of America. The video consisted of shots of Cleveland ending with their ballpark. This change lasted until the second "wave" of the show ended, with the finale of Season 7.
The man who took over Mr. Bell's job after his firing was Nigel Wick, who served as a foil for both Drew and Mimi in the workplace. During this period, Drew and Mr. Wick also periodically took the top management job away from each other. This would usually result in Drew ending up back at his old job as Assistant Director of Personnel and Mr. Wick would miraculously retain his job as manager. By the end of Season 7, they were both Co-Managers before Winfred-Louder was closed down (albeit after undergoing drastic changes to stay in business).
Kate and Oswald became closer and eventually became romantically involved and almost married during the third season, but Kate stood Oswald up at the altar. Kate and Drew also became romantically involved and were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they did not feel the same about the prospect of children. Drew's cross-dressing brother Steve was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had a child together, Gus (whose name was decided by means of a contest).
Drew also got married a number of times during this portion of the show. His first marriage was to Diane, a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. This was only temporary however, as she needed Drew to retain custody of her children. His second marriage was to Mr. Wick, who forced Drew to marry him in a sham same-sex civil union in Vermont (the only place it was legal at the time) in hopes that the marriage would placate the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At the beginning of Season 7, Drew married both Nikki and Kate (the former had been a recurring character for some time since Season 3, and suffered from weight problems). They found out about this and all three of these marriages ended in divorce, and Drew became known as the "Impotent Bisexual Bigamist". Nikki eventually returned, and the actress, Kate Walsh, donned a fat suit again and moved in with Drew.
During this period the show also had frequent "event" episodes. Recurring themes were "What's Wrong With This Episode?", in which the show contained numerous deliberate continuity errors and other mistakes and invited viewers at home to find the most errors and win a prize, and live episodes, with loose plots and improvised scenes featuring cast members from Carey's improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, Laura Hall, and Linda Taylor) contributed to these episodes, with Brad Sherwood hosting.
Seasons 8–9 (2002–2004)
Beginning in season 8, the show rotated through 9 different opening sequences, each of which contained a new version of one of the show's three theme songs. Each theme ("Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World" and "Cleveland Rocks") was seen in three different segments, in new, wildly different arrangements. The show eventually went back to having just five main characters, akin to the first season, as Kate, Mr. Wick, and Steve were eventually written out of the show. Kate's character was married off, Mr. Wick disappeared after three appearances until the Season 8 finale, wherein it is revealed he became a weatherman (although he continued to appear in the opening credits, unlike Kate, who was eliminated, and never mentioned again.) Steve left at the beginning of the ninth season to "find himself".
With Winfred-Louder closed, the location became the office of online retailer Neverending Store. Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick were hired as employees of the new company. Mimi was hired first in a similar role to her old job, and Drew was eventually hired as "Internal Expediting Analyst", and a recurring gag began wherein Drew had no clue as to what his job entailed. Before being written out, Mr. Wick was at first a janitor, and another recurring joke came in the form of Mr. Wick attempting to climb the ladder back to being the boss. Before being written out, he went from janitor to the carrier of the dessert trolley.
Kate left after the first two episodes of season 8, the same two episodes that introduced Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper. She eventually became a waitress at The Warsaw Tavern, Drew's girlfriend, and the carrier of his child. The plot of the final episode was Drew and Kellie attempting to get married before their child is born. Mr. Wick also returned and stayed on for the series finale.
The show began featuring cameos from reality-TV participants in the final two seasons, such as former Road Rules star Timmy Beggy, The Real World alumna Cara Khan, and The Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. Tony the Bus Driver (Bill Cobbs) became a regular, serving as smart-alecky "bartender" type to whom Drew could tell his problems. The eighth season was put in a timeslot that frequently clashed with Monday Night Football. It was pulled mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer of 2003. The ninth season did not air until the summer of 2004, with most of the episodes out of order.
The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. The directors began experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing the sets completely built, with four walls in most rooms, and with rooms actually linked together. The writers also began experimenting, including story lines in which Gus burns down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve leaves her.
Post-series
On March 24, 2009, Kathy Kinney appeared in character as Mimi at the beginning of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Kinney appeared twice on The Price Is Right as Mimi Bobeck on April Fools' Day. Drew Carey has been the host of the show since 2007. Carey would later revive the "What's Wrong with This Episode?" format for later April Fool's Day episodes of The Price Is Right.
The ending skit of the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2014 was a spoof of the 1990 final episode of Newhart, in which Ferguson and Carey reprised their roles. Mr. Wick wakes up in bed with Carey, discovering that his decade as a talk show host and Carey's career as a game show host had been a dream.
Carey, Kinney, and Ryan Stiles all guest starred in the episode "Bigger Kids, Bigger Problems" (2019) of the ABC sitcom American Housewife, which stars Diedrich Bader.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Notes
Christa Miller was only credited as Starring for the first 2 episodes she appeared in of Season 8.
Kathy Kinney is credited as a guest star in the pilot episode, but she is credited as Starring from the second episode on.
Craig Ferguson was credited as Starring in all episodes of Season 8, but only appeared in 4 episodes.
John Carroll Lynch appeared in 8 episodes in Season 8, and was only credited as Starring for the episodes he appeared in.
Recurring characters
Regular guest stars
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's mother
George Carey (Stanley Anderson) – Drew's father
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) – Oswald's mother
Mother Bobeck (Tammy Faye Bakker) – Mimi's mother
Gigi Bobeck (Lynn Wanlass) – Mimi's sister
King Augustus Antonio Carey (Dakota and Ryan Williams) – Drew's nephew, Steve and Mimi's son
Misty Kiniski (June Lockhart) – Lewis's mother
Guest stars
Nikki Cox as Drew's cousin Kirsten Carey, who briefly dates Mr. Wick in "Drew's Cousin"
Shirley Jones as Drew's lady friend Celia (Season 4, 3 Episodes)
Caroline Rhea as Drew's date, Bonnie, (Season 2, 2 Episodes)
Pauley Perrette as Drew's girlfriend, Darcy (Season 4, 4 Episodes)
Dan Castellaneta as Sal, the King of Poland in "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland Walk into A Bar" (all of his scenes were cut from reruns after complaints from the Polish community)
Hal Linden as Mr. Van Zandt in the episode "Brotherhood of Man" (Season 5)
Mark Curry as Robert Soulard
John Ratzenberger as himself in Drew Live III
Eddie Money as himself, the former husband of Mimi Bobeck
Penn & Teller as Fenn and Geller in "Drew Meets Lawyers" (Season 1, Episode 6) and "See Drew Run" (Season 2, Episode 17)
David Cross as Earl in "Drew and the Unstable Element" (Season 1, Episode 13) and "Two Drews & the Queen of Poland Walk into a Bar" (Season 2, Episode 20)
Tim Allen as himself in "The Front" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Norm Macdonald as Simon Tate in "The Bully You Know" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Henry Rollins as E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy and Amy Farrington as Bonnie in "Hickory Dickory... Double Date" (Season 8, Episode 5)
Richard Chamberlain as Mr. Wick's mother, Maggie in "Curse of the Mummy" (Season 7, Episode 14) and "Look Mom, One Hand!" (Season 7, Episode 25)
Gregory Jbara as Ron in "Drew and the Conspiracy" (Season 4, Episode 1) and "Golden Boy" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Charles Nelson Reilly as Mr. Hathaway, Lewis's boss, in "The Salon" (Season 3) and "DrugCo" (Season 4)
Ray Romano as Ed, a guitarist (in several episodes)
Bob Saget as Randy in "Drew's Best Friend" (Season 9, Episode 10)
Colin Mochrie as Eugene in "She's Gotta Have It", "Drew Live", and "Drew Live II"
Brad Sherwood as himself/host of "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Wayne Brady as himself in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II"
Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Kathy Greenwood as themselves in "Drew Live II"
Chris Palmer, head coach for the Cleveland Browns
Susan Saint James (Christa Miller's real life aunt) as Kate's mother in "Drew and Kate and Kate's mother"
Jamie Lee Curtis as Sioux in "Playing a Unified Field"
Steve Buscemi as Mimi's lawyer in "Mr. Louder's Birthday Party"
Micky Dolenz as Mr. Metcalf in "Drew and the King" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Tom Poston as Oswald's father (Season 6, Episode 13)
Beata Pozniak as Raisa in "What Women Don't Want"
Julia Duffy as Lindsey Mercer, Lord Mercer's ex-wife who temporarily takes control of Winfred-Louder in "Rich Woman, Poor Man" (Season 7, Episode 23)
Nicholas Turturro as the New York detective in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Mike McShane as Ray in "Drew's Inheritance" (Season 6, Episode 3)
Phyllis Diller as Mimi's grandmother (Season 7, Episode 25)
Megyn Price as Waitress at Warsaw Tavern in "Drew and Mr. Bell's Nephew" (Season 1, Episode 14) and "Miss Right" (Season 1, Episode 2)
Dave Winfield as himself in "Science Names Suck" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Jenny McCarthy as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2) and as a Police officer Drew dates in "A Shot In The Dark" (Season 7, Episode 17)
Amanda Bynes as various roles in "Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour" (Season 7, Episodes 1 and 2)
Tim Conway as a senior-home resident who temporarily costs Drew his job (Season 3, Episode 11)
Brent Hinkley as Frederick (Season 3, Episode 24)
Special appearances
Little Richard as himself in "Drewstock" (season 2, Episode 14)
Donald Trump and Carol Channing as themselves in "New York and Queens" (Season 2, Episode 24)
Rush Limbaugh as himself in "The Salon" (Season 3)
Dionne Warwick as herself, shopping at Winfred-Louder (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Reverend Horton Heat as The Underprivileged in "That Thing You Don't" (Season 3, Episode 10)
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself in "Drew Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (Season 4)
Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck (Applies at Drew's work place for a job in scene before opening title) in "My Best Friend's Wedding"
Paul "Triple H" Levesque as The Disciplinarian, Pro Wrestler Sponsor for Buzz Beer
Slash, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Joey Ramone, Lisa Loeb, Dave Mustaine, Roy Clark, Jonny Lang, and Michael Stanley as themselves and Joe Walsh as Ed in "In Ramada Da Vida" (Season 4, Episode 2)
Ben Stein as St. Peter
The James Gang as themselves at the end of Season 4, Episode 4
Debbie Lee Carrington as Mini Mimi in Season 5, Episode 1
The Go-Go's as themselves in "The Pregnancy Scare" (season 6, episode 6)
Lemmy Kilmister and his band Motörhead as themselves in "Drew Gets Out of the Nut House" in Season 7, playing a loud song with altered lyrics from Mimi to apologize for putting Drew in a mental institution
Kristen Wiig as Sandy, in realtor in "House of the Rising Son-in-Law" (Season 9, Episode 12)
Episodes
Viva Las Vegas
The episode "Drew Gets Married" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire, Coach and Ellen set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam, Joely Fisher as Paige Clark and Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak.
Ratings
The show initially finished outside of the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, at #48. In the second season, ratings improved, and the series jumped into the Top 30, remaining there for the next three seasons as well. The sixth season finished just outside of the Top 30, at #37. This is attributable to the erosion of network audiences that began in the late 1990s.
After its sixth season, ABC and Warner Bros. negotiated to keep the series on through the 2003-04 television season, which would place it in its ninth season. However, in its seventh season, The Drew Carey Show experienced a dramatic ratings drop, as did several other ABC series. A schedule move by ABC for the eighth season resulted in even worse ratings, falling out of the Top 100. At midseason, ABC placed the series on hiatus, and attempted to get out of the contract with Warner Bros. When they were unable to, the network finished the eighth season in the summer, and decided to burn off the ninth and final season during the summer of 2004. The series finale was viewed by a little over 5 million viewers.
Average seasonal ratings
Syndication
The Drew Carey Show entered off-network syndication in September 1999 and continued until September 2008, airing on the affiliates of Fox, UPN, and The WB.
The series began airing on TBS in October 2002, with reruns airing on the network until November 2007. ION Television aired reruns of the show from 2007 to 2009, premiering on December 31, 2007 (New Year's Eve), with the station promoting it as "The Drew Year." ION Television did not air all of the episodes as it only aired the episodes that aired from seasons 1–5; the channel also removed references to the male genitalia from certain episodes, the season 5 episode "Do Drew and Kate Have Sex?" being one in particular.
The CW Television Network also aired episodes during the 2008–09 television season. Two back-to-back episodes were aired on Sundays at 6:00pm to replace the cancelled Sunday Night Block by Media Rights Capital.
In Canada, the show ran in syndication on TVtropolis until June 2013, when the channel was rebranded as DTour. The series also aired on DejaView.
Laff began carrying the show as part of its inaugural lineup when it launched in April 2015. The series was dropped from Laff's lineup in the fall of 2019.
Rewind TV beginning airing The Drew Carey Show reruns in December 2021.
Merchandise
During the height of the show's popularity, Barbie-esque dolls of Drew and Mimi were released, with accessories and are currently in rare supply and considered collector's items. Matchbox also released Drew's car, a Volkswagen Beetle with flames on the sides which Drew owned from the third season until the eighth. The soundtrack album Cleveland Rocks! Music from The Drew Carey Show was released in May 1998.
Home media
On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD titled The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites. Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes "Pilot," "Playing the Unified Field," "We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day," "Drew Blows His Promotion," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "DrugCo." However, this DVD has since gone out of print.
On April 24, 2007, Warner Home Video released the complete first season of The Drew Carey Show on DVD in Region 1. Warner Bros. has released a statement in which it said that the reason as to why the second season, and any of the later seasons have yet to be released to this day is because of copyright issues regarding music used on the show. For the same reason, it is unlikely ever to stream on online services.
The first season was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 10, 2008.
Notes
References
External links
The Drew Carey Show ABC homepage
Season 1 DVD information
1995 American television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
1990s American workplace comedy television series
2000s American workplace comedy television series
1990s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of comedians
Television series by Mohawk Productions
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series created by Bruce Helford
Television shows set in Ohio
Television shows set in Cleveland
Television series set in shops | false | [
"The second season of the reality television series Prince Charming premiered on October 12, 2020 streaming on premium sector of TVNOW and began airing on television on October 26, 2020 on VOX. The second Prince Charming was 29-year-old marketing manager Alexander Schäfer from Frankfurt.\n\nThe season ended on December 14, 2020 (TVNOW) and on December 21, 2020 (VOX), and Lauritz Hofmann was initially named the winner. In the reunion, Schäfer and Hofmann announced that they didn't become a couple, after filming the final.\n\nFilming\nLike in the first season, also the second season of Prince Charming was shot in Greece in Crete in August 2020.\n\nContestants\nThis season was featured 20 contestants.\n\nContestant Progress\n\n The contestant had to give up his tie and was eliminated.\n The contestant was the runner up.\n The contestant won Prince Charming.\n\nEpisodes\n\nEpisode 1\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 2\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 3\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 4\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 5\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 6\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 7\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 8\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 9\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX:\n\nEpisode 10 - The Big Reunion\nOriginal airdate:TVNOW: VOX: \n\nIn The Big Reunion (German: Das große Wiedersehen) around three months after the shooting in Crete, this year's Prince Charming, Alexander Schäfer, and some of the single men who courted him meet again for the first time and review what has happened since the last episode. In addition to Prince Alexander, guests in the studio are the winner Lauritz, the runner-up Vincent and the candidates Gino, Andrea, David, Michael, Jan and Joachim. The host was Lola Weippert.\n\nSpin-off shows\n\nPodcast\n\nReferences\n\n2020 German television seasons",
"Antoine Daniel is a French video game streamer and former video creator, editor and actor born on 23 April 1989. He is known for his famous humoristic program What The Cut !?, published between 2012 and 2017 on YouTube. He has become extremely successful reaching more than 2.8 million subscribers in August 2018. He is on Twitch since 2018 and has more than 700 000 followers in December 2021.\n\nBiography \nHe studied for two years at the ESRA in Paris before beginning his training in sound engineering while devoting himself to musical composition. Once he acquired his BTS, he was temporarily employed in a musical publishing house as an operator input, an experience which he didn't enjoy. It was during that time, on 1 March 2012, that he created the show What The Cut !?.\n\nInspiration\nAntoine Daniel qualifies the British filmmaker TomSka as one of his favourite videomakers. He later played a role in his video Le Alien.\n\nYouTube\n\nWhat The Cut !?\nWhat The Cut !? was a humoristic show created by Antoine Daniel, the first episode of \"What The Cut !?\" was uploaded on 1 March 2012 on his YouTube channel. The concept of the show comes from Ray William Johnson's Equals Three. When it comes to his humour and staging inspirations, his most obvious references are videographer TomSka and British director Edgar Wright.\n\nIn each episode of What The Cut !?, Antoine Daniel analyses three funny, strange or freaky videos, and jokingly comments on them. However, What The Cut !? isn't a French \"Equals Three\" as Antoine Daniel completely changed the concept. In What The Cut !? he plays a character who speaks very quickly, wildly and sometimes screams. The video editing is very quick and the jokes are completely absurd which explains the show's name: \"What the ...\" for the absurd, wacky and crazy jokes and humour, and \"Cut\", for the video editing, which Antoine Daniel considers the most important part of his videos.\n\nAfter the first couple of videos, episodes were released monthly. However, that schedule couldn't be kept starting with episode #35 since later episode would featured a 5 to 15 minute sketch at the beginning of the video. The 37th and last episode was released on 30 December 2015.\n\nClyde Vanilla\n\nClyde Vanilla is a science fiction audio story. The first episode was released on 17 September 2017. The last and tenth episode was released on 19 November 2017.\n\nHowever, this series wasn't as well received as What The Cut !?.' later What The Cut !?'' episodes would get.\n\nTwitch \n\nSince 2018, Antoine is streaming on Twitch. As of December 2021, he has followers.\n\nHe participated to 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions of Z Event, a French charity reuniting several francophone streamers.\n\nReferences \n\nTwitch (service) streamers\nFrench YouTubers\n1989 births\nLiving people"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)"
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | What was the name of their debut album? | 1 | What was the name of the debut Queens of the Stone Age album? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | Gamma Ray EP, | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | true | [
"Endless Scroll is the debut studio album by American punk band Bodega. It was released on June 1, 2018 under What's Your Rupture?.\n\nRelease\nOn April 3, 2018, Bodega announced the release of their debut album, along with the single \"Can't Knock the Hustle\". The next single \"Jack In Titanic\" was released on May 3, 2018.\n\nCritical reception\n\nEndless Scroll was met with \"generally favorable\" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews. Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 75 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 14 reviews.\n\nAccolades\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2018 debut albums\nWhat's Your Rupture? albums",
"Cults is the debut album by American indie pop band Cults. The album was released in the US on June 7, 2011 on In the Name Of, an imprint of Columbia Records. The album was recorded over the course of 2010 and early 2011. In early 2010, the band released an EP, which featured two of the songs to appear on the album; \"Go Outside\" and \"Most Wanted\". The song \"Go Outside\" was featured on the soundtrack of the game MLB 11: The Show on PlayStation 3. The song \"Bad Things\" also appears in the Hulu true crime drama series The Act during the end credits of the third episode \"Two Wolverines\", and it was sampled on the track \"She Knows\" by rapper J. Cole from the album Born Sinner. The song \"You Know What I Mean\" appears in episode 6 of Amy Poehler's show Russian Doll on Netflix.\n\nCritical reception \n\nThe critical reception to Cults was generally positive. Jazz Monroe of NME said \"the album isn’t quite the tremulous voyage of hearts and minds it wants to be\", but Hari Ashurst of the BBC said that \"despite the genre signifiers there’s more than enough personality of their own here for Cults to transcend both their blog hit wonder and the timeworn sound they lovingly homage\".\n\nPitchfork placed the album at number 46 on its list of the \"Top 50 albums of 2011\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\n\n2011 debut albums\nCults (band) albums\nColumbia Records albums"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)",
"What was the name of their debut album?",
"Gamma Ray EP,"
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | Was the album a success? | 2 | Was the Gamma Ray EP by Queens of the Stone Age a success? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | false | [
"Collaborations 2 is the tenth studio album by Punjabi singer Sukshinder Shinda, released on 26 February 2009 worldwide making his second collaborated album. The album was also released internationally to USA, Canada, and U.K.\n\nThe album was preceded by the lead single, Ghum Shum Ghum Shum which featured Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The song was also Shinda's first with Rahat. Following the success of his first single, Yarrian Banai Rakhi Yaarian featuring Jazzy B, was released which was another success. Despite success with two singles from the album, the album received positive reviews.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2009 albums",
"Myriam is the second studio album by Myriam. On her website it is also called \"Myriam: Lo que Soy, lo que Pretendo y lo que Fui\" (Myriam: What I Am, What I Pretend and What I Was) making reference to the lyrics of the album's first single \"Hasta El Limite\". It includes eleven songs with the collaboration of Tiziano Ferro, Leonel (ex Sin Bandera). Again Myriam co-wrote a song along with Estrella. In this album Myriam brought a more fresh concept, almost 100% pop genre with a little touches of flamenco. It was released in July, 2004.\n\nAlbum information\nIt was recorded in Argentina and the producer was Cachorro López who had also worked with Julieta Venegas. Myriam's career was at a low point, as she was being criticized for her third place in Desafio de Estrellas, but all that was eclipsed by the success of this album. \"Hasta el Limite\" was the first single from the album; it was Myriam's first song with a promotional video, and stayed in the charts for more than 6 months. The second single was \"Porque Soy Mujer\" which was written by Myriam and her ex-classmate Estrella.\n\nThe album was a commercial success. Within two weeks of the launch date it reached gold status in Mexico, and sold more than 200,000 copies certificating 2× Platinum. The album was a Latin success in USA selling gold status, 50,000 copies.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2003 albums\nMyriam Montemayor Cruz albums"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)",
"What was the name of their debut album?",
"Gamma Ray EP,",
"Was the album a success?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | Did they receive any awards for their debut album? | 3 | Did Queens of the Stone Age receive any awards for Gamma Ray EP, their debut album ? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | false | [
"SG Wanna Be+ is SG Wannabe's first Korean studio album, released on January 20, 2004. It was produced by Lee Kyung-sub, Park Geun-tae and other famous music producers in South Korea. The group gained a reputation for being quite mysterious because they did not show their faces and did not star in any of their music videos. Nevertheless, their vocal abilities attracted many fans, and the album was an instant hit with pre-sales of 90,000 copies. Later in 2004, the group was recognized for their vocal ability with numerous awards, including the PAVV Best Newcomer at the Golden Disk Awards and the Seoul Popular Music Awards. Their music video also won Best Picture. The album has sold a total of 211,918 copies.\n\nMusic videos\nA total of four music videos were produced for this album, \"Timeless\" and \"I Loved You To Death\", which was a two-part music video, \"Don't Know Why\" and \"It was Good That We Loved\".\n\nThe title track's music video for the album attracted media attention, as it featured top actors such as Sol Kyung-gu and Kim Nam-jin, and actresses Kim Yun-jin, Kang Hye-jung, and Seo Sung-min. The production costs were reportedly about 2 billion won. \"Timeless\" was the first part of the drama MV, while \"I Loved You To Death\" was the second part.\n\nNotable tracks\n\n\"Timeless\"\n\"Timeless\" was SG Wannabe's debut track and was written by Kang Eun-kyung and composed by Park Geun-tae. The song is a medium-tempo R&B track.\n\n\"I Loved You to Death\"\n\"I Loved You to Death\" was also potentially SG Wannabe's debut track. Instead, \"Timeless\" became SG Wannabe's debut track. The ballad, \"I Loved You to Death\" was the group's sub-title track.\n\nTrack listing\n\nSpecial Edition\n\nSG Wannabe albums\nStone Music Entertainment albums\n2004 debut albums",
"Next is an American R&B musical trio, popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s. They are best known for their Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit single \"Too Close\". They are also known for \"Wifey\" and \"I Still Love You\", both of which still receive frequent airplay on Urban Adult Contemporary radio stations in the U.S. and internationally.\n\nHistory\n\n1992–1999: Early beginnings and breakthrough\nThe group was formed in 1992 by Robert \"R.L.\" Huggar and brothers Raphael \"Tweety\" Brown and Terry \"T-Low\" Brown in Minneapolis, Minnesota after being introduced by the Brown's uncle, a gospel choir director. Originally, they were first known as Straight4ward, and at one point managed by Sounds of Blackness' Ann Nesby. However, after catching the attention of Naughty by Nature's KayGee, he took the group to his Arista label Divine Mill, and began work on their debut album.\n\nThey released their KayGee-produced debut single \"Butta Love\" in September 1997, which became a big R&B hit for the group peaking at No. 4 (and hitting the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart). Soon after, their debut album, Rated Next was released on September 30, and sold moderately. It was followed in 1998 by the release of their biggest hit to date, \"Too Close\", which hit No. 1 on both the R&B and the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Sales of their debut album surged, helping the album peak at No. 13 R&B and No. 37 on the Billboard 200, eventually being certified double platinum, and earning them American Music Awards, Billboard Awards and Soul Train Awards nominations. A third single \"I Still Love You\" garnered the group another Top 5 R&B hit and a Top 20 on the Hot 100 charts.\n\n2000–present: Label changes and hiatus \nIn 2000, the group released the lead single \"Wifey\" ahead of their second album for Arista. The song became another No. 1 R&B hit for the group and also featured singer Lil' Mo on background vocals. Their second album, Welcome II Nextasy, was released in June 2000 and was certified gold on the strength of the lead single. A second single \"Beauty Queen\" received moderate airplay, peaking at No. 48 on R&B and No. 59 on the Hot 100. After the album's cycle, the group took a break, leading RL to record and release his debut solo album RL:Ements for Clive Davis' then-new J Records label in 2002, which achieved moderate success with the singles \"Got Me a Model\" and \"Good Man\".\n\nThe group also joined the J Records label, and released their third studio album The Next Episode in December of that same year. It featured the lead single \"Imagine That\" which peaked at No. 66 R&B and No. 91 on the Hot 100. Also, they collaborated with Jaheim on his single \"Anything\" off his debut album Ghetto Love which earned the group another Top 10 R&B hit. After leaving the J Records label, they briefly aligned with 50 Cent's G-Unit and with Matthew Knowles' Music World labels, but did not release any music. The group later broke up due to internal conflicts and member T-Low suffering from a career-ending throat condition, but eventually reunited in 2011.\n\nIn 2014, the group began and completed work on a new album titled Next, Lies, & Videotape (originally titled Music 101) but it was ultimately shelved. In 2016, the group was featured on TV One's \"Unsung\" series which prompted another reunion for the group after a couple years of being distant. In March 2018, the group premiered their new single \"Want It\" to UAC radio.\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nSingles\n\nAwards and nominations\nBillboard Awards\n1998 Top New Artist (winner)\n1998 Top Hot 100 Singles - Duos/Group (winner)\n1998 Top R&B Artist - Duos/Group (winner singles & album)\n1998 Top New R&B Artist (winner)\n1998 Top Hot R&B Singles Artist (winner)\n1998 Top Hot R&B Singles Artist - Duos/Group (winner)\n1998 Top Hot 100 Single (Winner) \n1998 Top Hot R&B Single Airplay (Winner)\nAmerican Music Awards\n1999, Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or Group: (Nominated)\n1999, Favorite New Soul/R&B New Artist: (Nominated)\nSoul Train Awards\n2001, Best R&B/Soul Album by a Band, Duo or Group: Welcome II Nextasy (Nominated)\n1999, Best R&B/Soul Single by a Band, Duo or Group: \"Too Close\" (Winner)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n[ Billboard.com - Biography - Next]\nNext in London, UK 29th April 2010\nNext is big winner at Billboard Awards - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper\n\nAfrican-American musical groups\nAmerican contemporary R&B musical groups\nMusical groups from Minnesota\nArista Records artists\nJ Records artists\nInterscope Records artists"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)",
"What was the name of their debut album?",
"Gamma Ray EP,",
"Was the album a success?",
"I don't know.",
"Did they receive any awards for their debut album?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | How did the band Queens of the Stone Age form? | 4 | How did the band Queens of the Stone Age form? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | true | [
"The discography of Queens of the Stone Age, an American rock band, consists of seven studio albums, one live album, three extended plays, fourteen singles, three promotional singles and twenty music videos.\n\nQueens of the Stone Age (also known as QOTSA) was formed in 1996 by guitarist and vocalist Josh Homme (formerly of Kyuss) under the name Gamma Ray. The band signed with the independent label Loosegroove Records and released the Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age extended play in 1997. In 1998, the band released its full-length debut, Queens of the Stone Age. The band subsequently signed with Interscope Records and released its first album for a major label, Rated R, which became the first Queens of the Stone Age album to chart.\n\nIn 2001, the band was joined by vocalist Mark Lanegan, and released their third album, Songs for the Deaf in 2002. The album brought the band to a new level of commercial success, and a full-fledged tour followed in support of the album. Queens of the Stone Age released a follow-up album, Lullabies to Paralyze, in 2005. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 97,000 copies during its first week. Two years later, the band released its fifth studio album, Era Vulgaris, which debuted and peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard 200.\n\nAfter a four-year hiatus, Queens of the Stone Age released ...Like Clockwork on June 4, 2013, and four more years later saw the release of Villains on August 25, 2017.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nNotes\n\nLive albums\n\nExtended plays\n\nLive extended plays\n\nSingles\n\nNotes\n\nPromotional singles\n\nOther singles\n\nOther charted songs\n\nNotes\n\nOther appearances\n\nMusic videos\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n Queens of the Stone Age at AllMusic\n \n\nDiscography\nRock music group discographies\nDiscographies of American artists",
"Brendon McNichol (born November 1969), is a lap-steel/guitar player, who has played with bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Masters of Reality.\n\nBiography\nIn 1990 Brendon lived in Hollywood, California.\n\nThe Drills released a 5-song EP in 1991 produced by Dave Jerden.\nIn 1996 Brendon joined Masters of Reality led by Chris Goss, and appeared on tour with the band, and on the live album \"How High The Moon: Live At The Viper Room\".\nIn 2000 he joined Queens of the Stone Age, teaming up with his longtime friend Josh Homme, playing not only guitar, but also lap-steel and piano. Besides touring he also recorded various studio songs. \nBrendon has also played with bands including K.C. and the Sunshine Band, The Drills, Stacy Q., Pablo Moses , Michigan and Smiley, Charlie Chaplan, Drone w/ Ted Parsons, Desert Sessions, Levi Chen, Photek, Discordia, The Dwarves, Palmerville as well as countless soundtracks, commercials and albums as a session player.\n\nBands\n the Drills (band) (1990–1995)\n Masters of Reality (1996–present)\n Queens of the Stone Age (1999–2001)\n\nLiving people\nAmerican punk rock guitarists\nQueens of the Stone Age members\n1969 births\nAmerican male guitarists\n20th-century American guitarists"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)",
"What was the name of their debut album?",
"Gamma Ray EP,",
"Was the album a success?",
"I don't know.",
"Did they receive any awards for their debut album?",
"I don't know.",
"How did the band Queens of the Stone Age form?",
"After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band,"
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | How was the name Queen of the Stone age chosen? | 5 | How was the name Queen of the Stone age chosen for the band ? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | true | [
"Thu Thiri Myatswa Ratana Devi (, ), commonly known as the Princess of Salin () or Salin Supaya (, ), was the Tabindaing princess (chief queen designate) during the late Konbaung dynasty. She was nicknamed \"Selina Sophia\" by Europeans. As a favourite daughter of King Mindon and one who was proficient in mathematics, she served as head of the royal treasury (the equivalent of HM Treasury) during the reign of King Mindon.\n\nBiography \n\nSalin Supaya was born in 1847 to King Mindon and his consort Limban Mibaya at the Amarapura Palace in the old capital of Amarapura in Burma. Her given name was Me Myo Mon (မယ်မျိုးမွန်). She was considered to be King Mindon's mother reborn. She was adopted by the Queen of the Northern Palace, Khin The, who was the half-sister of Limban Mibaya. When King Mindon ascended to the throne, Salin Supaya was granted the appanage of Shwegu and later of Salin, gaining the title Sri Ratana Devi. She also held the high-ranking royal title Supaya.\n\nShe was chosen as the Tabindaing Princess, or as the Einshe Hteik Hta Mibaya (Queen of the Crown Prince, အိမ်ရှေ့ထိပ်ထား မိဖုရား), after the assassination of Crown Prince Kanaung in 1866. The position of Chief Queen Designate or Tabindaing Princess is similar to the position of crown princess. The person designated is sequestered in a separate palace and expected to be the chief queen when the heir apparent eventually ascends the throne. As the saying goes, \"Son Kyapin, daughter Salin,\" and since Salin Supaya was the dearest daughter of King Mindon, she was chosen by him for the position.\n\nAlthough she was the chief queen designate, Salin Supaya took delight in religious works; most notable was her donation of Salin Monastery at Mandalay. In the end, however, Salin Supaya did not become Chief Queen as King Thibaw married Supayalat and her elder sister Supayagyi.\n\nIt is said that Salin Supaya joined the Buddhist order of nuns at Salin Monastery as soon as her father King Mindon was entombed. There she died in 1879 at the age of 33.\n\nNotes\n\nReference \n\n1879 deaths\n\nBurmese royal consorts\n\n1847 births\nBurmese princesses\nKonbaung dynasty\nBurmese Buddhists",
"Lynx Vilden is a British primitive survival expert known for her wilderness survival skills.\n\nVilden was born in London, England. She moved to the United States at the age of 21. In the US, she changed her name to Lynx Vilden.\n\nOff-grid living\nSince 1991, Vilden has both practiced and taught wild-living skills. Since around 2000, since has run a series of intensive rewilding workshops that she calls \"Stone Age projects\". In them, participants learn how to make shoes, hunting tools, shelters and how to start fires. The National Geographic film Living Wild documents one of her month-long workshops on stone-age skills. In 2016 she was included in the BBC television series New Lives in the Wild.\nIn 2020 she was included in the Channel 4 series Surviving The Stone Age – Adventure To The Wild.\n\nSince 2006, she has lived in Twisp, Washington.\n\nReferences\n\nBritish women\nPeople from London\nRewilding advocates\nDate of birth missing (living people)\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people"
]
|
[
"Queens of the Stone Age",
"Formation and debut album (1996-1999)",
"What was the name of their debut album?",
"Gamma Ray EP,",
"Was the album a success?",
"I don't know.",
"Did they receive any awards for their debut album?",
"I don't know.",
"How did the band Queens of the Stone Age form?",
"After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band,",
"How was the name Queen of the Stone age chosen?",
"Queens of the Stone Age\" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss."
]
| C_d405e5d5e7864c139756931c9fae6138_1 | Why did the producer give Kyuss the nickname? | 6 | Why did the producer give Kyuss the nickname Queens of the Stone Age ? | Queens of the Stone Age | After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER | Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also have a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. It was well received by critics for its stoner rock sound which Homme has described as "robot rock". Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan joined as additional vocalists for Rated R, which was commercially and critically successful. Rated R diversified their musical palette with forays into psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal, and featured their breakout single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Songs for the Deaf was released in 2002 to universal acclaim and commercial success, and featured Dave Grohl on drums and contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider. By this time, the band had achieved considerable international recognition, and have since embarked on successive world tours. Following Oliveri and Lanegan's departures, Homme was the primary singer for 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris.
After a few years of inactivity, the more sombre and introspective ...Like Clockwork was released in 2013 to critical acclaim. The band released Villains in 2017 with Mark Ronson as producer.
The band have been nominated for Grammy Awards seven times; four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, twice for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance.
History
Formation and debut album (1996–1999)
After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup.
Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
Rated R (2000–2001)
2000's Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005.
Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004)
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "A Song For The Dead".
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008)
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011)
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
...Like Clockwork (2011–2014)
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, frequent collaborator Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Josh's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013 on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade.
Villains (2014–2018)
The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
Eighth studio album (2019–present)
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Gibbons was later confirmed to be a contributor to Desert Sessions vol. 11 & 12, while Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
Musical style
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, hard rock, and nu metal. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry, with the album featuring solid and repetitive riffs in its song structure. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has described Lullabies to Paralyze as a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme explained, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me..." The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of longtime member Nick Oliveri. The band almost exclusively used semi hollow body guitars during the making of the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has currently gone back to being the only lead vocalist in the band and uses more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described their music as "rock versions of electronic music," stating that he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. This heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music has been dubbed by Homme as "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the Roskilde Festival 2001.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the 'Josh Homme scale', which he claimed was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview Homme referenced some of his earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
Members
Current
Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1996–present), bass (1996–1998, 2004–2007)
Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals (2002–present), bass (2005–2006)
Michael Shuman – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals (2007–present)
Dean Fertita – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present)
Jon Theodore – drums, percussion, samplers (2013–present)
Former
Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1998–1999)
Nick Oliveri – bass, co-lead and backing vocals (1998–2004)
Mark Lanegan – co-lead and backing vocals (2001–2005), keyboards (2005)
Dave Grohl – drums, percussion (2001–2002, official member; 2013, session member)
Joey Castillo – drums, percussion (2002–2012)
Alain Johannes – bass, backing vocals, guitar (2005–2007)
Natasha Shneider – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–2006)
Touring musicians
Dave Catching – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (1998–2000)
Peter Stahl - co-lead and backing vocals (1998-1999)
Gene Trautmann – drums, percussion (1999–2001)
Brendon McNichol – guitar, keyboards, lap steel (2000–2002)
Dan Druff – bass, guitar, backing vocals (2004–2005)
Frequent collaborators
Discography
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
Tours
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row"|Kerrang! Awards
| 2000
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Newcomer
|
|
|-
!scope="row"|Žebřík Music Awards
| 2002
| Best International Surprise
|
|
At the 2001 NME Awards, the band was nominated for Best Metal Act. At the 2004 awards ceremony, they won Best Live Band.
In 2003, their music video for "Go With the Flow" was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Art Direction, Breakthrough Video, and Best Special Effects in a Video. It won only the last category.
See also
Palm Desert Scene
References
External links
Alternative rock groups from California
American alternative metal musical groups
Hard rock musical groups from California
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups from Riverside County, California
Musical quintets
Kerrang! Awards winners
Palm Desert, California
1996 establishments in California
Stoner rock musical groups | true | [
"Argentinean label Dias De Garage released the first-ever tribute to the rock legend Kyuss in July 2004. Titled \"Listen Without Distraction\", the collection was named after the instructions Kyuss used to give music fans on their albums. This CD contains songs from Argentinean bands and features liner notes by ex-Kyuss bass player Scott Reeder.\n\nCommented Scott Reeder after listening to the album: \"I'm reminded of why music has been so much a part of my life and brought me so much satisfaction in reaching out to people at home and all over the world.\" Blabbermouth.net\n\nAccording to Kyuss tribute Blog Hugo Garcia, the producer of this album, said \"In 2005 I released a Kyuss Tribute album called \"Listen Without Distraction\". It was a CD full of 16 Kyuss cover songs done by 16 bands from my country, Argentina. As you can guess, I did that tribute CD to show my love for Kyuss, a band that was not very well known in my country. Time has passed and Kyuss popularity has grown a lot in my country... I guess you can blame it on the internet\".\n\nTrack listing\n Thumb (Cygnus)\n Green Machine (Avernal)\n One Inch Man (Melissa)\n Love Has Passed Me By (Sendero Luminoso)\n Writhe (Taura)\n Allen’s Wrench (Los Natas)\n Odyssey (Buffalo)\n 100°/Whitewater (Cruzdiablo)\n Space Cadet (Superextra)\n Phototropic (Sauron)\n Demon Cleaner (Sick Porky)\n Supa Scoopa And Mighty Scoop (Sereen)\n Gardenia (Sunferno)\n Asteroid (Poseidotica)\n El Rodeo (Regular Xon)\n Spaceship Landing (Gallo De Riña)\n\nCredits\n\nExecutive producer: Hugo García\n\nPhotography: Hugo García\n\nLiner Notes: Scott Reeder\n\nAll Songs Written By Kyuss\n\nReferences \n\nTribute albums\nKyuss albums",
"Sons of Kyuss is the debut EP by American rock band Kyuss, released in 1990 under the group's original name, Sons of Kyuss. The band released it independently as a vinyl record, pressing only 500 copies. Following this release, the band shortened its name to Kyuss and included these recordings of the songs \"Deadly Kiss\" and \"Black Widow\" on their first full-length album, Wretch (1991), while re-recording \"Love Has Passed Me By\", \"Katzenjammer\", and \"Isolation Desolation\" for the album (the latter song's title was shortened to \"Isolation\").\n\nTrack listing\nThe EP's liner notes credit the writing of all songs to Sons of Kyuss, consisting of John Garcia, Josh Homme, Chris Cockrell, and Brant Bjork. The liner notes of Wretch, on which five of the EP's eight songs appear, give more specific writing credits, with \"Deadly Kiss\", \"Isolation Desolation\", and \"Black Widow\" attributed solely to Homme, while \"Love Has Passed Me By\" is attributed to Homme and Bjork and \"Katzenjammer\" to Homme and Cockrell.\n\nPersonnel\nCredits adapted from the EP's liner notes.\n\nKyuss\nJohn Garcia – vocals\nJosh Homme – guitar\nChris Cockrell – bass guitar\nBrant Bjork – drums\n\nProduction\nCatherine Enny – record producer\nRon Krown – record producer\nJ.B. Lawrence – recording engineer\nMichael Mikulka – mixing engineer\nTim Shean – assistant engineer\nTom Nunes – assistant engineer\n\nArtwork\nMerle Schoelkoph – photography\nDebra Hintz – layout\n\nReferences \n\n1990 EPs\nKyuss albums"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz"
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | What is Thr33 Ringz? | 1 | What is T-Pain's Thr33 Ringz? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | false | [
"The Instrumentals is a compilation album containing instrumentals of select songs composed and performed by musician T-Pain. It was first released for digital download at Amazon.com on August 21, 2009. The tracks were available for purchase on iTunes just four days later. The songs that are released as instrumentals come from all albums by T-Pain, including Rappa Ternt Sanga, Epiphany, and Thr33 Ringz. The songs are uploaded on T-Pain's official MySpace profile.\n\nTrack listing\n\nExternal links\nT-Pain's Official Myspace\n\nT-Pain albums\nAlbums produced by T-Pain\n2009 compilation albums\nInstrumental hip hop albums\nHip hop compilation albums\nJive Records compilation albums",
"\"Freeze\" is the third and final single from R&B singer T-Pain from his third album, Thr33 Ringz. The song features singer Chris Brown. The song was released on iTunes on October 10 and was added to T-Pain's MySpace on October 17. A version that features Omarion was originally on the album, but was changed to Chris Brown.\n\nCritical response\nThe Guardian editor Alex Macpherson praised the production: \"Thr33 Ringz' humour is still superbly crass and mostly enjoyable, especially when allied with the skittering beats and post-funk bounce of Freeze.\" Jesal 'Jay Soul' Padania of RapReviews.com called this song nice enough. Eric Henderson wrote a positive review: \"Freeze\" might be another freeze-dried Chris Brown upper, but it boasts the cleanest production this side of Ne-Yo.\"\n\nMusic video\nThe shoot for the music video was released on YouTube on September 30 by Mike & Rocco (reality). The video was set to premiere on January 5, 2009 but leaked on December 31, 2008 and was officially released on January 1, 2009 via MTV Jams.\n\nChart positions\n\n\"Freeze\" debuted at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US with downloads only, and also debuted at number 45 on the Canadian Hot 100 and number 62 on the UK Singles Chart due to digital downloads in those countries. Also in the US it charted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs after its physical release at number 39. It has been most successful in Australia and New Zealand peaking at number 26 and number 23 respectively.\n\nReferences\n\n2008 singles\n2008 songs\nT-Pain songs\nChris Brown songs\nSong recordings produced by T-Pain\nSongs written by T-Pain\nSongs written by Chris Brown\nJive Records singles"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008."
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | How did the album do? | 2 | How did T-Pain's Thr33 Ringz album do? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | true | [
"\"How Do I Get Close\" is a song released by the British rock group, the Kinks. Released on the band's critically panned LP, UK Jive, the song was written by the band's main songwriter, Ray Davies.\n\nRelease and reception\n\"How Do I Get Close\" was first released on the Kinks' album UK Jive. UK Jive failed to make an impression on fans and critics alike, as the album failed to chart in the UK and only reached No. 122 in America. However, despite the failure of the album and the lead UK single, \"Down All the Days (Till 1992)\", \"How Do I Get Close\" was released as the second British single from the album, backed with \"Down All the Days (Till 1992)\". The single failed to chart. The single was also released in America (backed with \"War is Over\"), where, although it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, it hit No. 21 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the highest on that chart since \"Working At The Factory\" in 1986. \"How Do I Get Close\" also appeared on the compilation album Lost & Found (1986-1989).\n\nStephen Thomas Erlewine cited \"How Do I Get Close\" as a highlight from both UK Jive and Lost & Found (1986-1989).\n\nReferences\n\nThe Kinks songs\n1990 singles\nSongs written by Ray Davies\nSong recordings produced by Ray Davies\n1989 songs\nMCA Records singles",
"How Do You Do may refer to:\n\nHow Do You Do (Miyuki Nakajima album)\nHow Do You Do (Mayer Hawthorne album)\n\"How Do You Do!\", a song by Roxette\n\"How Do You Do?\" (beFour song)\n\"How Do You Do\" (Mouth & MacNeal song)\n\"How Do You Do\" (Shakira song)\n\"How Do You Do?\", a song by the Boomtown Rats released as the B-side to \"Like Clockwork\"\n\"How Do You Do?\", a song from the Disney film Song of the South\n\"How Do You Do?\", a song from the Wee Sing film The Marvelous Musical Mansion\n\nSee also\n How Are You (disambiguation)\n How Have You Been (disambiguation)\n How You Been (disambiguation)"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.",
"How did the album do?",
"The album sold 168,000 records in its first week,"
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | Did he go on tour during that time? | 3 | Did T-Pain go on tour during 2007-2009? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | true | [
"\"Go Insane\" is the title track of Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album. Released as a single on July 3, 1984, it became Buckingham's second top 40 hit (after \"Trouble\", three years earlier). \"Go Insane\" is also Buckingham's most recent U.S. solo hit (peaking at #23 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart); on the other hand, it did not chart in the United Kingdom.\n\nLyrics\nWhen asked about the lyrics of \"Go Insane\", he explained:\n\nIn later years, Buckingham has stated that the song, \"Go Insane\", was actually written about his 7-year-old (at that time) post-break up relationship with former lover, Stevie Nicks.\n“We were disintegrating as couples, by virtue of that, we were suffering as people. So in order to get work done, I had to go through this elaborate exercise in denial – leaving whole areas of baggage on the other side of the room, compartmentalize feelings... no time to get closure, to work things out... working in a very highly charged and ambivalent environment. So the go insane thing – would just be whenever I let my guard down and got back to all the things I hadn’t dealt with, it was almost like going insane – like I always do. Took a long, long time, working in an artificial environment on a personal level. So many things not worked through for a long, long time.\" – Lindsey Buckingham \n\n“Stevie, at some point her persona onstage was latched onto and she was in a sense called away by a larger world and separated on her own from me.”- Lindsey Buckingham\n\nPersonnel\n Lindsey Buckingham – vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion, Fairlight CMI, LinnDrum\n Bryant Simpson – bass guitar\n\nChart history\n\nOther versions\nAt concerts, notably on The Dance, he did an acoustic fingerstyle version of \"Go Insane\", which featured just him and a nylon-string guitar.\nDuring the 2008 Gift of Screws tour, as well as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 Unleashed tour, he played the original version of the song. He returned to performing the solo acoustic version on his 2011 Seeds We Sow tour.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Lyrics, Interpretation, and Tabs\n \n\n1984 singles\nSongs written by Lindsey Buckingham\nLindsey Buckingham songs\n1984 songs\nReprise Records singles\nWarner Music Group singles",
"Andrew Butterfield (born 7 January 1972) is an English professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour.\n\nCareer\nButterfield was born in London, England. He turned professional in 1993 and joined the Challenge Tour in 1996. He played on the Challenge Tour until qualifying for the European Tour through Q-School in 1999. Butterfield did not perform well enough on tour in 2000 to retain his card and had to go back to the Challenge Tour in 2001. He got his European Tour card back through Q-School again in 2001 and played on the European Tour in 2002 but did not find any success on tour. He returned to the Challenge Tour and played there until 2005 when he finished 4th on the Challenge Tour's Order of Merit which earned him his European Tour card for 2006. He did not play well enough in 2006 to retain his tour card but was able to get temporary status on tour for 2007 by finishing 129th on the Order of Merit. He played on the European Tour and the Challenge Tour in 2007 and has played only on the Challenge Tour since 2008. He picked up his first win on the Challenge Tour in Sweden at The Princess in June 2009. He also won an event on the PGA EuroPro Tour in 2004.\n\nProfessional wins (2)\n\nChallenge Tour wins (1)\n\nChallenge Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nPGA EuroPro Tour wins (1)\n2004 Matchroom Golf Management International at Owston Hall\n\nPlayoff record\nEuropean Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nResults in major championships\n\nNote: Butterfield only played in The Open Championship.\nCUT = missed the half-way cut\n\nSee also\n2005 Challenge Tour graduates\n2009 Challenge Tour graduates\n\nExternal links\n\nEnglish male golfers\nEuropean Tour golfers\nSportspeople from London\nPeople from the London Borough of Bromley\n1972 births\nLiving people"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.",
"How did the album do?",
"The album sold 168,000 records in its first week,",
"Did he go on tour during that time?",
"T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour,"
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | Who toured with him? | 4 | Who toured with T-Pain? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | false | [
"Matthew Frederick Monro (born 21 February 1964) is a British singer. The son of Matt Monro, he often performs his father's work.\n\nIn 1977, when Monro junior was 13, he was invited by his father to join him on stage to perform a duet.\n\nWhen he signed with EMI in 1995 modern technology enabled him to sing with his father again. The album, 'Matt Sings Monro', is a collection of Matt Monro songs, rearranged as duets featuring Monro junior and senior.\n\nIn 2005, he toured England with a new show The Legend Lives On which was a year in the making and took him to over 40 concert venues across England. He toured the same show in 2006. In the last few years he has been working with his late father's musical director, Colin Keyes.\n\nReferences\n\n1964 births\nLiving people\nEnglish male singers",
"Dylan Smith, who performs as Dylan J (previously Dylan Joel), is an Australian musician, singer, and rapper from Melbourne. He first gained recognition by uploading his songs to Triple J Unearthed. He later signed a deal with Warner Music Australia. He has toured nationally with Bliss n Eso in 2017 and toured internationally with up and coming artist Ruel for most of 2018 Dylan Joel has also toured with NF for his \"The Search' world tour throughout 2020.\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n\nExtended plays\n\nSingles\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nhttps://www.facebook.com/DylanJoel/\n\nAustralian musicians\nLiving people\n1991 births"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.",
"How did the album do?",
"The album sold 168,000 records in its first week,",
"Did he go on tour during that time?",
"T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour,",
"Who toured with him?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | Did he win any awards for that album? | 5 | Did T-Pain win any awards for his Thr33 Ringz album? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | true | [
"The Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album is an honor presented annually by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the United States and internationally. According to the category description guide for the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards, the award is for vocal or instrumental salsa albums containing at least 51 percent of newly recorded material. It is awarded to solo artists, duos or groups.\n\nThe accolade for Best Salsa Album was first presented to Cuban singer Celia Cruz at the 1st Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000 for her album Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of Salsa (1999). She also holds the record for the most wins in the category, with three. Gilberto Santa Rosa holds the record for most nominations, with nine. Puerto Rican musician Victor Manuelle holds the record for most nominations without a win, with six. Puerto Rican artists have received this award more than any other nationality.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\n2000s\n\n2010s\n\n2020s\n\nNotes \n Each year is linked to the article about the Latin Grammy Awards held that year.\n The name of the performer and the nominated album\n\nSee also\nGrammy Award for Best Salsa Album\nGrammy Award for Best Salsa/Merengue Album\n\nReferences \nGeneral\n\nSpecific\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site of the Latin Grammy Awards\n\n \nAwards established in 2000\nSalsa Album",
"The 54th Academy of Country Music Awards was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 7, 2019. Nominations were announced on February 20, 2019 by Reba McEntire during CBS This Morning, with Chris Stapleton and Dan + Shay leading with six nominations each. McEntire returned to host the awards for the sixteenth time.\n\nJason Aldean was presented with the ACM's rare honor \"Artist of the Decade\" by previous holder George Strait.\n\nWinners and Nominees \nThe winners are shown in bold.\n\nPerformances\n\nPresenters\n\nReception \nIn its review of the event, Rolling Stone Country praised that the ACMs took the opportunity to bring seasoned musicians Amanda Shires and Charlie Worsham \"into the fold\" by having them appear alongside Luke Combs and Keith Urban respectively but criticised that the ACMs did not introduce either of them or even feature them on screen. Worsham, who the reviewer believed should have been nominated for his own awards, performed \"mostly in the shadows\" and Shires, who \"helped transform [Combs' performance] with her lyrical playing\" was barely seen. Rolling Stone also praised Reba McEntire's hosting and the performances by Dierks Bentley and Brandi Carlile, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert and Ashley McBryde but stated that it was \"baffling\" that Kacey Musgraves, who had five nominations and won the CMA Award for Album of the Year and four Grammy Awards including Best Country Album and the all-genre Album of the Year for Golden Hour, did not perform. Musgraves' win made her only the third artist (after Taylor Swift and the artists that appeared on Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) to win the ACM, CMA and Grammy Awards for Best Country Album as well as the all-genre Grammy for Album of the Year.\n\nSee also\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\n\nReferences\n\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\nAcademy of Country Music Awards"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.",
"How did the album do?",
"The album sold 168,000 records in its first week,",
"Did he go on tour during that time?",
"T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour,",
"Who toured with him?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he win any awards for that album?",
"The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart."
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | Were there any guest stars on the album? | 6 | Were there any guest stars on T-Pain's Thr33 Ringz album? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | false | [
"Indicator is the third and final studio album from Onward to Olympas. Facedown Records released the album on October 9, 2012. Onward to Olympas worked with Taylor Larson, in the production of this album.\n\nCritical reception\n\nAwarding the album two stars from Alternative Press, Dan Slessor states, \"Indicator is a record for the already converted, and there’s nothing wrong with that, per se.\" Ian Webber, rating the album a seven out of ten for Cross Rhythms, writes, \"With this release OTO have produced a competent third recording. It may well be lost amongst more established acts but will certainly be appreciated by their fans.\" Giving the album four stars at Jesus Freak Hideout, Scott Fryberger says, \"Onward To Olympas have another solid hardcore album in Indicator.\" Jonathan Anderson, awarding the album two and a half stars by The New Review, describes, \"Indicator simply has not reached the bar set by its predecessors.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nCredits\nOnward To Olympas\n Justin Allman - Bass\n Andrew Higginbotham - Guitar\n Kramer Lowe - Unclean Vocals\n Mark Hudson - Drums, Clean Vocals\n Kyle Phillips - Guitar, Backing Vocals\n\nAdditional Musicians\n Cas Haruna - Guest Vocals on track 1\n Ryan Leitru (For Today) - Guest Vocals on track 5\n Zach Riner (Sent By Ravens) - Guest Vocals on track 6\n Mike Perez - Guest Vocals on track 12\n\nProduction\n Taylor Larson - Producer\n Dave Quiggle - Cover Art, Layout\n\nReferences\n\n2012 albums\nFacedown Records albums\nOnward to Olympas albums",
"Firestarr is the debut studio album by American hardcore rapper Fredro Starr, best known as a member of multi-platinum hardcore rap group Onyx, released on February 13, 2001 by Koch Records.\n\nThe album was produced by Fredro Starr, DaVinci and Ant Beats. The album was featured by members of the group Outlawz - E.D.I. Mean, Napoleon and Young Noble, as well as Sticky Fingaz, X1, Ice-T, Capone-N-Noreaga, Cuban Link, Aaron Hall and many others.\n\nThe album debuted at number 76 on the US Billboard 200, number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart and number 2 on the Top Independent Albums on March 3, 2001.\n\nBackground \nOnyx's front man, Fredro Starr, after leaving Def Jam, focused his attention on releasing a solo release. For this, he even had to move from New York to Los Angeles, where he met Omar \"Iceman\" Sharif, thanks to whom they came up with an idea of releasing a solo album on the independent label Koch Records. Later on the same label will be released the fourth album of Onyx, Bacdafucup: Part II. The result of Fredro Starr's effort was his debut album, Firestarr, consisting of 15 tracks.\n\nRecording and production \nThe album was recorded from 1999 to 2000 at OPM Studios in Hollywood (Los Angeles, California). And only one song \"I Don't Wanna...\" was recorded with singer Aaron Hall in 2000 at Studio 76 in Cleveland, Ohio. Most of the album was produced by Fredro Starr and DaVinci. 4 tracks on the album were produced by Ant Beats.\n\nReleases \nThe Japanese edition of the album included one bonus track \"V12 - Niggaz\", which previously appeared on the compilation Race Riot in 2000 (July 18, 2000). The song \"Dangerous\" was recorded with Still Livin' special for this album, but later was released on the second album. The song \"Thugz N My Killaz\" was recorded with X1 and Begetz special for this album, but was unreleased. The song \"Perfect Chick (Remix)\" was released as a single and is a reference to the remix on the track \"Me & My Bitch\" by The Notorious B.I.G.\n\nSingles \nFour singles from this album were released: \"Shining Through\" (Theme From \"Save The Last Dance\") (2000), \"Dying For Rap\" (2000), \"Dat B Dem / Dying For Rap\" (2000), \"Perfect Chick\" (2001). In support of the release of the album, two videos were filmed: \"Dyin' 4 Rap / Dat Be Dem\" and \"Perfect Bitch\".\n\nCritical response\n\nJon Azpiri of AllMusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying \"...With his signature rapping style, former Onyx frontman Fredro Starr creates an impressive solo album that features enough party tracks to keep Onyx fans happy while also offering some deeper tracks that will appeal to a new audience. After appearing in several films and the television series Moesha, many have questioned Starr's street credibility, and he replies capably with hard tracks like \"Thug Warz.\" Starr also shows a more pensive side on \"What If.\" Unfortunately, the album is weighed down by too many guest appearances by unseasoned rappers like Mieva. Still, Firestarr is a solid reply to his critics and proof that, if given the chance, Fredro Starr can still shine.»\n\nSteve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews gave the album six stars out of ten, and stated \"...Fredro has moved a bit from his angrier and grittier Onyx style on this release. He still has the gruff, hardcore b-boy voice, and there are still energetic adrenaline laced songs like \"Dyin' 4 Rap\" and \"Dat Be Dem\"; but Fredro also shares his personal thoughts on life's mysteries with \"What If\" and the struggles to survive with \"Shining Through.\"»\n\nHipHopDX gave the album three and a half stars out of five, stating \"...Some of negative aspects to Fredro Starr's debut would be that the collabos are inconsistent and fall short from captivating the embodiment of the album. Polished Stars like Cuban Link, Capone-N-Noreaga and Ice-T only cause confusion to Firestarr. The musical production on cuts like Soldier and I Don't Wanna are not up to par and are puzzling edition to otherwise decent album.\"\n\nStefan Johannesberg of Laut.de negatively responded to the flow, lyrics and production of the album, saying: \"...The predictable defeat. His flow is pleasantly unobtrusive, and the lyrics are not quite as bland as expected. Unfortunately the beats are only lower average. It dominate 08/15 synth sounds, which are underlaid with the commercial, hectic rhythms. \"What If\", \"Perfect Bitch\" and the remix of \"Save the last dance\" quite acceptable songs can be found on \"Firestarr\". The \"What If\" theme has already explained to us Q-Tip in the early nineties, but Fredro drops a few funny lines. The same applies to \"Perfect Bitch\". Here he makes his perfect wife from all known erotic stars of this planet. (\"The ass of Jennifer Lopez, the breasts of Janet Jackson, etc.\").»\n\nTrack listing \n\nBonus Track Japan Edition\n\nPersonnel \nCredits for Firestarr adapted from AllMusic and CD booklet.\n\n Fredro Starr — performer, vocals, producer, recording, mixing, sequencer\n E.D.I. Mean — guest artist\n Napoleon — guest artist\n Sticky Fingaz — guest artist, backing vocals\n X1 — guest artist\n Mieva — backing vocals\n Sin — guest artist\n David \"Begetz\" Cooper — guest artist, backing vocals, A&R\n Ice-T — guest artist\n Versatile — guest artist\n Capone — guest artist\n Noreaga — guest artist\n Capone-N-Noreaga — guest artist\n Cuban Link — guest artist\n\n Young Noble — guest artist\n Aaron Hall — guest artist\n Sunshine — guest artist\n DaVinci — producer\n Ant Banks — producer\n DJ Hectic — scratches\n Omar \"Iceman\" Sharif — executive producer, management\n Just — management\n Hector Delgado — recording, mixing, sequencer\n Mauly T. — recording («I Don't Wanna...»)\n Chris Gehringer — mastering\n Jonathan Mannion — photographer\n Jeff Chenault — art direction, design\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Firestarr at Discogs\n Firestarr at RapGenius\n \n \n\nFredro Starr albums\n2001 debut albums\nE1 Music albums"
]
|
[
"T-Pain",
"2007-2009: Thr33 Ringz",
"What is Thr33 Ringz?",
"T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.",
"How did the album do?",
"The album sold 168,000 records in its first week,",
"Did he go on tour during that time?",
"T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour,",
"Who toured with him?",
"I don't know.",
"Did he win any awards for that album?",
"The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.",
"Were there any guest stars on the album?",
"Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West"
]
| C_311a5c4fc5514e2d81fc0615393a9d6a_0 | Did he win any grammy's for this album? | 7 | Did T-Pain win any grammy's for his Thr33 Ringz album? | T-Pain | In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album. The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album. In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. In 2009, T-Pain hosted the BET Awards afterparty and paid tribute to Michael Jackson in West Covina. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1984), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain popularized the creative use of the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect, used with extreme parameter settings to create distinctive vocal sounds. His success with the effect has influenced several other major artists to adopt it as well, namely Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Future and Travis Scott, among others. After signing with American singer Akon’s Konvict Muzik, T-Pain subsequently founded his own vanity label imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second album, Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Three Ringz, was released in 2008. The albums included a string of hit singles, including "I'm Sprung", "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)", "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", "Bartender", "Can't Believe It", and "5 O'Clock". T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, one with Kanye West for "Good Life" and the other with Jamie Foxx for "Blame It". From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart topping singles. His most successful feature to date was on Flo Rida's debut single "Low", which has since been certified diamond (10x platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder.
Career
2004–2006: Early career and Rappa Ternt Sanga
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon eventually came across the song and immediately offered him a deal to his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.
The album was preceded by the lead single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 but failed to chart.
2007–2008: Epiphany
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.
The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 but failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis, of the award-winning Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas."
While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" (remix) by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. In two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" with Kanye West later won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: Three Ringz
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment. T-Pain's third studio album, Three Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008. The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.
The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'N' Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous rap singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'N' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 (S34E15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) as a feature in the Digital Short premier of The Lonely Island single, "I'm on a Boat," off their Incredibad album. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: RevolveR
He collaborated with country pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl" featuring Young Jeezy, which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, prEVOLVEr, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled RevolveR, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire." In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)" by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with rapper 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que Se Apague." The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black & Yellow" by rapper Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More".
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome To My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Tech N9ne's All 6s and 7s. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from RevolveЯ, "Best Love Song", was released, featuring Chris Brown. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his prEVOLVEЯ mixtape when he got 500,000 followers and release his album RevolveЯ when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim show: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music For Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including RevolveЯ) on the RCA Records brand. The album RevolveЯ was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which samples UK songstress Lily Allen and features Wiz Khalifa.
2013–2017: Oblivion
On April 1, 2013, after the announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour, a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, "Up Down (Do This All Day)", produced by DJ Mustard and featuring B.o.B, was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro/title track off of Stoicville. On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website.
On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released a song titled "Make That Shit Work" featuring Juicy J. Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours".
On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" featuring Lil Yachty. He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic, as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down".
After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for the single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex. After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017.
2019: 1UP
On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first US season of The Masked Singer, he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14.
In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports.
Other ventures
Phone app
On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke; it was released the following day.
Film and television
In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed a concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical, which he submitted to Adult Swim. It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Young Ca$h, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, Rick Ross, Andy Samberg and Charlie Murphy.
T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk.
In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as American singer Stevie Wonder.
T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster".
Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business, a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around the United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The show has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season three.
Musical style
T-Pain has defined his own style of music as "Hard & B", a play on R&B.
He uses the software GarageBand and Logic Pro to produce his own beats.
Use of Auto-Tune
Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe". T-Pain, who had been looking for a way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders).
After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune was copied by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single "Lollipop", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow", and Diddy on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris. In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for the right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris, and he felt that other artists should do the same.
In 2009, rapper Jay-Z released the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on a trend as was the case for other artists.
Personal life
T-Pain has been married to Amber Najm since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009).
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim's "Download" song. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later.
On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks, stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing the same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back."
On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown, Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide.
He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch. He has many tattoos, some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related.
Legal issues
On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami, which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them.
In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail but was released three hours later.
Discography
Studio albums
Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
Epiphany (2007)
Three Ringz (2008)
Revolver (2011)
Oblivion (2017)
1UP (2019)
A Day Out With the Girls (TBA)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
American Music Awards
2007, Favorite Male Artist (Nominated)
BET Awards
2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BET Hip Hop Awards
2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
BMI Urban Awards
Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
Producer Of The Year shared with J.R. Rotem & Kanye West (Won)
Grammy Awards
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2008
| "Bartender" (featuring Akon)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Good Life" (with Kanye West)
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| "Kiss Kiss" (with Chris Brown)
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2009
| "Got Money" (with Lil Wayne)
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Low" (with Flo Rida)
|
|-
| Best Rap Song
|
|-
| Tha Carter III (as featured artist & producer)
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| 2010
| "I'm on a Boat" (with The Lonely Island)
| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| "Blame It" (with Jamie Foxx)
| Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
| Best R&B Song
|
|-
| Three Ringz
| Best Contemporary R&B Album
|
|-
|}
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
2009, Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Ozone Music Awards
2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
2008, Club Banger of the Year ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("She Got It") with 2 Pistols & Tay Dizm (Nominated)
2008, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2008, Best TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Won)
2007, Best Male R&B Artist (Won)
2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Shawty") with Plies (Won)
2007: Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2006, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (Remix)" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG, and Too Short) (Won)
MTV Video Music Award
2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
People's Choice Awards
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [Won]
2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [Nominated]
Teen Choice Awards
2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist – T-Pain (Nominated)
2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track – Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
Vibe Awards
2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Brit Asia TV Music Awards
2014, Best Music Video ("Daddy Da Cash" by RDB feat. T-Pain) (Won)
References
External links
Official website
Nappy Boy Records
1985 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singers
African-American record producers
African-American songwriters
American contemporary R&B singers
American Muslims
American hip hop record producers
American hip hop singers
American music industry executives
American people of Bahamian descent
Businesspeople from Florida
Grammy Award winners for rap music
Jive Records artists
Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
Pop rappers
Rappers from Florida
RCA Records artists
Reality show winners
Singers from Florida
Songwriters from Florida
Southern hip hop musicians
Twitch (service) streamers | false | [
"The Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album is an honor presented annually by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the United States and internationally. According to the category description guide for the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards, the award is for vocal or instrumental salsa albums containing at least 51 percent of newly recorded material. It is awarded to solo artists, duos or groups.\n\nThe accolade for Best Salsa Album was first presented to Cuban singer Celia Cruz at the 1st Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000 for her album Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of Salsa (1999). She also holds the record for the most wins in the category, with three. Gilberto Santa Rosa holds the record for most nominations, with nine. Puerto Rican musician Victor Manuelle holds the record for most nominations without a win, with six. Puerto Rican artists have received this award more than any other nationality.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\n2000s\n\n2010s\n\n2020s\n\nNotes \n Each year is linked to the article about the Latin Grammy Awards held that year.\n The name of the performer and the nominated album\n\nSee also\nGrammy Award for Best Salsa Album\nGrammy Award for Best Salsa/Merengue Album\n\nReferences \nGeneral\n\nSpecific\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site of the Latin Grammy Awards\n\n \nAwards established in 2000\nSalsa Album",
"The Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the United States and internationally. \nThe award goes to solo artists, duos, or groups for releasing vocal or instrumental albums containing at least 51% of new recordings. \n\nThe award was first presented to Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa for the album Misa Criolla at the 1st Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000. She also happens to be the most nominated and awarded performer in this category with five accolades. Her album Cantora 1 became the first folk album to be nominated for Album of the Year in 2009 but lost to Calle 13's Los de atrás vienen conmigo. In 2011 she became the first artist to receive this award posthumously for the album Deja La Vida Volar. \n\nOn the other hand, Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón holds the record for most nominations without a win with ten. Musicians originating from Argentina and Colombia have received this award more times than any other nationality winning on four and two occasions respectively.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\n2000s\n\n2010s\n\n2020s\n\n Each year is linked to the article about the Latin Grammy Awards held that year.\n\nSee also\nLatin Grammy Award for Best Tango Album\nLatin Grammy Award for Best Flamenco Album\n\nReferences\n\nGeneral\n Note: User must select the \"Traditional Field\" category as the genre under the search feature.\n\nSpecific\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site of the Latin Grammy Awards\n\nFolk Album\nFolk music awards"
]
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"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life"
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| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | Who is the father of Matthew? | 1 | Who is the father of Matthew Boulton? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | false | [
"Matthew 1:15 is the fifteenth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the father of Jesus, is listed.\n\nContent\nIn the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:\nAnd Eliud begat Eleazar; \nand Eleazar begat Matthan; \nand Matthan begat Jacob;\n\nThe World English Bible translates the passage as:\nEliud became the father of Eleazar. \nEleazar became the father of Matthan. \nMatthan became the father of Jacob.\n\nFor a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 1:15\n\nAnalysis\nThis section goes through Joseph's great-grandfather Eleazar, grandfather Matthan, and father Jacob. None of these figures are mentioned anywhere other than in Matthew and nothing else is known about them. As with most of the later section of Matthew's genealogy it conflicts with that given in Luke 3. There is some similarity in this passage Matthew gives Joseph's grandfather as Matthan and Luke as Matthat, the other names, however, are wholly different. Eleazar was a common Old Testament name, appearing many times in that work.\n\nRobert H. Gundry, who is highly skeptical of the earlier parts of Matthew's genealogy, believes that these later figures are likely accurate as it is unlikely no one would know who Joseph's father and grandfather were. Even if the author of Matthew did not known their names it is unlikely he would risk being creative as he could be fairly sure that somebody would spot his error. Gundry posits that Eleazar is the last fictional creation and that Matthan and Jacob were real people.\n\nReferences\n\n01:15\nFamily of Jesus",
"Matthew 1:2 is the second verse of the first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is the first part of the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is listed.\n\nContent\nIn the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:\nAbraham begat Isaac; \nand Isaac begat Jacob; \nand Jacob begat Judas\nand his brethren;\n\nThe World English Bible translates the passage as:\nAbraham became the father of Isaac. \nIsaac became the father of Jacob. \nJacob became the father of Judah \nand his brothers.\n\nFor a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 1:2\n\nAnalysis\nThe passage also references Judah's brothers who have no actual place in the genealogy. Robert H. Gundry contends they are included because the author of Matthew is trying to portray the people of God as a brotherhood. Harold Fowler argues that while Isaac and Jacob's brothers were excluded from the promise of the messiah, all twelve of Judah's brothers were the ancestors of the tribe from which the messiah would come. The inclusion of the brothers is thus a reminder to the readers that it is from this group where the messiah will come.\n\nW. D. Davies and Dale Allison note that Isaac's birth is a miraculous one according to the Old Testament, and thus there is some symmetry with both the first and last births mentioned in the genealogy being miraculous ones.\n\nReferences\n\n01:02"
]
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[
"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life",
"Who is the father of Matthew?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | Where was matthew born? | 2 | Where was Matthew Bolton born? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | true | [
"Henry Colin Gray Matthew (15 January 1941 – 29 October 1999) was a British historian and academic. He was an editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and editor of the diaries of William Ewart Gladstone.\n\nEarly life\n\nMatthew was born in Inverness on 15 January 1941. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and later at the English public school, Sedbergh. He proceeded to Christ Church in the University of Oxford in 1960 to read modern history. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1963.\n\nAcademic career\n\nIn 1963, Matthew moved to work as a teacher in what is now Tanzania in East Africa, where he met his American wife Sue Ann Curry (born 1941). They moved to Oxford in 1966, where they married. Matthew began first an uncompleted diploma in politics and economics, and then a doctorate on the imperial wing of the Liberal Party in the 1890s and 1900s, completed in 1970.\n\nIn 1970, Matthew was appointed lecturer in Gladstone studies at Christ Church, a post tied to the assistant editorship of the Gladstone Diaries, then being prepared for publication by M. R. D. Foot. In 1972 Matthew succeeded Foot as the sole editor, and completed the project. In 1978 Matthew was elected fellow and tutor in modern history at St Hugh's College, Oxford.\n\nWhen Oxford University Press proposed a revision of the Dictionary of National Biography in the early 1990s, Matthew's work on the Gladstone Diaries recommended him for the position. He began work in 1992 and devised the editorial structure and guidelines for the dictionary, as well as writing or revising several hundred articles for the work.\n\nMatthew died from a heart attack in Oxford on 29 October 1999. The dictionary was published in 2004 following Matthew's plan.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nOxford Dictionary of National Biography (includes photo)\n\n1941 births\n1999 deaths\nScottish historians\nPeople educated at Sedbergh School\nAlumni of Christ Church, Oxford\n20th-century British historians\nDictionary of National Biography",
"Matthew Palaiologos Asen (; died 29 March 1467) was a late Byzantine aristocrat and official, related to the Asen and Palaiologos dynasties.\n\nLife \nHe was the son of Paul Asen, and brother of Simonis and Theodora Asanina. In 1441, his sister Theodora married the Despot Demetrios Palaiologos, with whose career Matthew's destiny was intertwined. Bulgarian historian Ivan Bozhilov conjectures that Matthew must have been born in the first years of the 15th century, but before c. 1405.\n\nMatthew first appears in September 1423, when he was sent along with his brother-in-law as an envoy to King Sigismund of Hungary. In 1442, he played an active part in Demetrios' Ottoman-assisted failed siege of Constantinople. The two were arrested on the order of Emperor John VIII, but managed to flee and were temporarily sheltered by the Genoese in Galata.\n\nHe then accompanied Demetrios to his post as governor of Lemnos, and followed him to the Despotate of the Morea after that. In 1452, he scored a victory over an Ottoman army under Ahmet Bey at Leontari, by luring it into a narrow defile. Most of the Turks fell, and Ahmet Bey himself was captured.\n\nFrom 1454 he was governor of Corinth, until he surrendered the fortress to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1458. In mid-May 1460, when Mehmed arrived at Corinth and demanded that Demetrios, his vassal, come and meet him, the latter was afraid, and sent Matthew instead. The Sultan was known to respect Matthew, but Demetrios' failure to appear enraged him, and he was not mollified by the sumptuous gifts that Matthew brought with him. Matthew was placed under arrest, and Mehmed marched against Mistras, the capital of the Morea. Demetrios surrendered the city on 29 May, putting an end to the Despotate. In recompense, Demetrios was given the town of Ainos in Thrace as an appanage, where he, Theodora, and Matthew spent the next seven years. At that point, they suddenly fell from the Sultan's favour and were dispossessed. According to Sphrantzes, admittedly a hostile source, that was because Matthew, who was in charge of the salt monopoly, allowed his subordinates to cheat the Sultan's tax officials. Demetrios, Theodora, and Matthew left Ainos for Didymoteicho, where they lived in great poverty, and where Matthew died on 29 March 1467. After that the Sultan took pity on Demetrios and his wife, allowing them to settle in Adrianople, close to their daughter Helena, and provided them with a small stipend until their death in 1470.\n\nMatthew Palaiologos Asen was married to the unnamed daughter of the mesazon Eudaimonoioannes. He most likely had a single unnamed daughter who died shortly after him. Bozhilov theorizes that Thomas Asen Palaiologos, a Byzantine exile in the Kingdom of Naples and a \"lord of Corinth\" himself, was his grandson.\n\nReferences\n\nSources \n \n \n \n\n1467 deaths\n15th-century Byzantine people\nMatthew Palaiologos Asen\nByzantine governors\nPeople of the Despotate of the Morea\nYear of birth unknown\nMedieval Corinthia\nByzantine prisoners and detainees\nByzantine people of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars\nByzantine generals"
]
|
[
"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life",
"Who is the father of Matthew?",
"I don't know.",
"Where was matthew born?",
"the Snow Hill area of Birmingham,"
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| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | When was matthew born? | 3 | When was Bolton born? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | false | [
"Matthew Halsall (born 11 September 1983) is an English, Manchester-based jazz musician, composer, producer and founder of the independent jazz label Gondwana Records.\n\nBiography\nMatthew Halsall first album was Sending My Love in 2008, that was also the first release of his label Gondwana Records, followed by Colour Yes in 2009. The success came with his third album On the Go in 2011, awarded with the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Winners Award, and nominate as best jazz act in the 2011 MOBO Awards.\n\nIn 2012 the fourth album Fletcher Moss Park was released, and in 2014 he released his fifth album When the World Was One with the eight-member group Gondwana Orchestra. This album was awarded as iTunes Jazz Album of the Year 2014.\n\nIn 2015 Into Forever and a remix of On the Go in 2016. were released. In 2019 he released Oneness.\n\n2020s 'Salute To The Sun' marks the debut of his new band, a hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester’s finest young musicians. For Matthew it was important to have a band based locally and able to meet and play each week. The album draws energy from these sessions and inspiration from themes and ideas that have inspired Halsall through the years (on albums such as Oneness, Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One) ideas of ecology, the environment and harmony with nature.\n\nMusic style\nMatthew Halsall's music is inspired by the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis, with trip hop influences following the road opened up by The Cinematic Orchestra.\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n 2008: Sending My Love (Matthew Halsall)\n 2009: Colour Yes (Matthew Halsall)\n 2011: On the Go (Matthew Halsall)\n 2012: Fletcher Moss Park (Matthew Halsall)\n 2014: When the World Was One (Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra)\n 2015: Into Forever (Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra)\n 2019: Oneness\n2020: Salute To The Sun\n\nSingle\n 2015: Journey in Satchidananda / Blue Nile\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n \n \n\nLiving people\n1983 births\nEnglish jazz trumpeters",
"Henry Colin Gray Matthew (15 January 1941 – 29 October 1999) was a British historian and academic. He was an editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and editor of the diaries of William Ewart Gladstone.\n\nEarly life\n\nMatthew was born in Inverness on 15 January 1941. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and later at the English public school, Sedbergh. He proceeded to Christ Church in the University of Oxford in 1960 to read modern history. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1963.\n\nAcademic career\n\nIn 1963, Matthew moved to work as a teacher in what is now Tanzania in East Africa, where he met his American wife Sue Ann Curry (born 1941). They moved to Oxford in 1966, where they married. Matthew began first an uncompleted diploma in politics and economics, and then a doctorate on the imperial wing of the Liberal Party in the 1890s and 1900s, completed in 1970.\n\nIn 1970, Matthew was appointed lecturer in Gladstone studies at Christ Church, a post tied to the assistant editorship of the Gladstone Diaries, then being prepared for publication by M. R. D. Foot. In 1972 Matthew succeeded Foot as the sole editor, and completed the project. In 1978 Matthew was elected fellow and tutor in modern history at St Hugh's College, Oxford.\n\nWhen Oxford University Press proposed a revision of the Dictionary of National Biography in the early 1990s, Matthew's work on the Gladstone Diaries recommended him for the position. He began work in 1992 and devised the editorial structure and guidelines for the dictionary, as well as writing or revising several hundred articles for the work.\n\nMatthew died from a heart attack in Oxford on 29 October 1999. The dictionary was published in 2004 following Matthew's plan.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nOxford Dictionary of National Biography (includes photo)\n\n1941 births\n1999 deaths\nScottish historians\nPeople educated at Sedbergh School\nAlumni of Christ Church, Oxford\n20th-century British historians\nDictionary of National Biography"
]
|
[
"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life",
"Who is the father of Matthew?",
"I don't know.",
"Where was matthew born?",
"the Snow Hill area of Birmingham,",
"When was matthew born?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | Which school did matthew go to? | 4 | Which school did Matthew Bolton go to? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | true | [
"Michael Martchenko (born August 1, 1942) is a Canadian illustrator best known for illustrating many of the stories of Robert Munsch.\n\nLife\nBorn in Carcassonne, France, Michael moved to Canada when he was seven, where he graduated from the Ontario College of Art. His early interest in drawing became apparent when he began creating his own depictions of his favourite comic books. Mike's fame in high school, Glenview Park Secondary School, Cambridge, Ontario, was based on the realistic \"flip page\" comics that adorned every one of his school texts and workbooks.\n\nMartchenko and his wife, Patricia, live in Toronto's Leaside.\n\nWork\nAlthough Martchenko began his career as a commercial artist, he was later approached by Robert Munsch and Annick Press representatives to consider a career in children's book illustrating after they saw his work at a graphic arts exhibition. His first Munsch book was 1980's The Paper Bag Princess after his six-year-old daughter read the story; he is now the go-to illustrator for Munsch books.\n\nIn 1984, Martchenko began his artistic partnership with Allen Morgan, author of the \"Matthew’s Midnight Adventure\" series. It was not until 1990 that he first authored and illustrated his own book, Birdfeeder Banquet. His second self-authored and illustrated book, Ma, I’m a Farmer, was published in 2003.\n\nMartchenko's most famous works are made in partnership with Canadian Author Robert Munsch on their long lived partnership Martchenko has said \"I think that respecting each other's talents and experience, plus good communication can go a long way to creating a positive work relationship. You need to be on the same page creatively and share the same desire to produce the best books that you can. Robert Munsch and Allen Morgan's stories are funny, zany, and at times, a little crazy – so I fit right in. My type of visual humour, which at times can be a little crazy also, seems to complement their stories. Being able to exchange ideas is important as well. I can suggest changes to copy and they can make suggestions to illustrations. If it improves the story, we're all okay with that. We like one another, we get along and egos don't get in the way. It's worked for all these years and still does.\"\n\nAside from his passion for illustrating children's books, Martchenko also has an interest in aviation and military art and history.\n\nBooks Illustrated by Michael Martchenko\n\nAs author\n Birdfeeder Banquet (1990)\n Ma, I’m a Farmer (2003)\n\nAs illustrator only\nWith Robert Munsch\n 50 Below Zero\n Angela's Airplane\n The Boy in the Drawer\n The Dark\n David's Father\n The Fire Station\n From Far Away\n Hugs\n I Did It Because...\n I Have to Go!\n Jonathan Cleaned Up—Then He Heard a Sound\n Kiss Me, I'm Perfect\n Moira's Birthday\n Mortimer\n Murmel, Murmel, Murmel\n No clean clothes\n The Paper Bag Princess: 25th Anniversary Edition\n The Paper Bag Princess\n Pigs\n Playhouse\n Show and Tell\n Something Good\n Stephanie's Ponytail\n Thomas' Snowsuit\n Wait and See\n Smelly Socks\n Zoom\n\nWith Allen Morgan\n Matthew & the Midnight Tow Truck\n Matthew & the Midnight Turkeys\n Matthew & the Midnight Money Van\n Matthew & the Midnight Hospital\n Matthew & the Midnight Firefighter\n Matthew & the Midnight Wrecker\n Matthew & the Midnight Movie\n Matthew & the Midnight Flood\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n\n1942 births\nLiving people\nCanadian illustrators\nFranco-Ontarian people\nCanadian children's book illustrators\nCanadian people of Ukrainian descent\nPeople from Carcassonne",
"Rockford is a 1999 Indian English-language, coming-of-age drama film written, and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. Produced by Padmini Kolhapure, the film starred Nagesh Kukonoor, Nandita Das, and Rohan Dey in pivotal roles. The film received positive reviews, and was screened at the MAMI Film Festival.\n\nPlot\nThirteen-year-old Rajesh Naidu arrives at Rockford Boys' High School. Having left home for the first time he is a bit sad. Rajesh's best friends are Selva, a good spirited boy, and David, an arrogant sports hero but with a good heart. The captain of the school – Raja, hates Rajesh. At school, Rajesh experiences the joy and agony of living in an all-male boarding school, learning to fend for himself without the safety net of his parents. There he befriends PT Instructor Johnny Matthew, who teaches Rajesh a lot of lessons of life.\n\nOne day the school arranges a fete in which the girls also participate every year, and all the boys are to propose at least one girl. Rajesh is least interested, but goes anyway on Selva's insistence. Unfortunately, David gets hurt and cannot go to the fete. Hence he tells Rajesh to give a card to Malathi, a student from the girls school. But Malathi becomes attracted to Rajesh which David takes in his stride easily.\n\nOn Rajesh's birthday, Mr. Matthew pretending to be Malathi's uncle, brings her out of the school to meet Rajesh. This information is then passed on to the headmaster, Brother Lawrence. Shravya, Malati's friend also accompanies them. Malathi and Rajesh spends some time together, sharing their first kiss. Shravya and Mr. Matthew go together for an Ice-Cream. She then accuses Johnny of having assaulted her when they were alone, which is in fact a lie fabricated by Raja. Brother Lawrence, believing the lie to be true asks Mr. Matthew to resign from the school. Rajesh gets bewildered by this and fights Raja with the help of David, and makes him confess the truth in front of Brother Lawrence. Johnny Matthew then gets reinstated and everything ends well.\n\nCast \n Rohan Dey as Rajesh Naidu\n Kailash Athmanathan as Selva Reddy\n Nagesh Kukunoor as Johnny Matthew (PT Instructor)\n Ulrika Krishnamurti as Malathi\n Imran Mirza as David Fischer\n Jayant Kripalani as Brother Lawrence\n Shilpa Pai as Shravya\n Suhail Bajaj as Raja\n Nandita Das as Lily Vegas\n Debasakti Mohapatra as Happy\n Sohrab Ardeshir\n\nSoundtrack\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1999 films\nIndian films\nIndian drama films\nEnglish-language Indian films\nFilms about bullying\nFilms set in schools\nBoarding school films\nFilms about teacher–student relationships\nFilms about sexual abuse\nFilms directed by Nagesh Kukunoor"
]
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[
"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life",
"Who is the father of Matthew?",
"I don't know.",
"Where was matthew born?",
"the Snow Hill area of Birmingham,",
"When was matthew born?",
"I don't know.",
"Which school did matthew go to?",
"As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham."
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| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | What was special about his early life? | 5 | What was special about Matthew Bolton's early life? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | true | [
"William Anderson (1757–1831) also known as Kikthawenund was a leader of the Unalatchgo Lenape people. The city of Anderson in Indiana is named after him.\n\nEarly life\n\nAnderson was born along the banks of the Susquehanna River in or about what is today Marietta, Pennsylvania close to what was then called Anderson's Ferry. The Ferry was operated by his father, John Anderson, a man of Swedish descent. \n\nJohn Anderson was married to a daughter of the Lenape chief Netawatwees. This woman's name has not been recorded. In 1784 after his first wife had died Anderson married Ahkechlungunaqua. They had three children together including Mekinges Conner.\n\nLittle is recorded of Anderson's early life. He had moved to what is now Ohio by the 1790s and was one of 14 Lenape leaders to sign the Treaty of Greenville. It was about then that Anderson moved to the site that was later named after him: Anderson, Indiana. The move seems not to have happened until 1798 based on later statements of Anderson's son Sarcoxie. Anderson built a log house within the current boundaries of the city of Anderson.\n\nChief\nIn 1806 an assembly was held at Anderson's village where he was recognized as chief by those present. In 1811 Anderson refused to back Tecumseh. Later that year Anderson and his followers relocated to Piqua, Ohio at the urging of William Henry Harrison. In 1815, Anderson returned to his village in Indiana, which had been burned by the U.S. Army while he was away, and began to rebuild it. In 1818 Anderson was one of the signatories of a treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio in which the Lenape agreed to leave Indiana and relocate west of the Mississippi.\n\nIn 1821 Anderson along with about 1,350 other Lenape relocated from Indiana to the banks of the Current River in Missouri. In 1830 Anderson and his followers relocated to what is now Kansas, where he died the following year.\n\nSources\narticle on Chief Anderson\n\n1757 births\n1831 deaths\nLenape people\nNative American people from Indiana\nNative American people from Pennsylvania\nPeople from Marietta, Pennsylvania",
"12 Again is a show that premiered on CBBC on 13 February 2012. It is presented by Iain Stirling, and each episode is 30 minutes long. The show sees various celebrities talking about what their life was like at the age of 12, usually covering news stories, what they would gossip about, favourite television programmes, favourite music, their favourite celebrities and what they would have done differently if they were 12 again.\n\nEpisodes\n\nSeries 1: 2012\n\n\"End of Summer\" special\nOn Monday 3 September 2012 at 5:45pm, a brand new 12 Again special premiered, where many special celebrity guests revisit their favourite summer memories of when they were 12.\n\nSeries 2: 2012\nA second series of 12 Again began on Friday, 21 September 2012, at 5pm, to run for 13 episodes.\n\nSeries 3: 2013\n\nFuture\nA fourth series was confirmed for last 2014. It will air on Thursdays at 5pm.\n\nPremiere\nThe show premiered in February 2012, during the half-term break, with new episodes every day. Re-runs of the show air as of April 2012. New episodes premiere at different times; there is usually at least one episode in 2 months.\nNew episodes will premiere every day at 10am and repeated at 3pm from 2 to 11 June so there will be 7 episodes premiering.\n\nSeries 2 began on Friday 21 September 2012 at 5pm, with brand new episodes premiering every Friday until Friday 14 December 2012.\n\nTopics covered\nIntroduction\nWhat life was like for them in General when they were 12\nThe music they liked when they were 12\nTheir big moments/big news stories when they were 12\nWhat they watched on TV when they were 12\nWhat they would change if they were 12 again\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nCBBC shows"
]
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[
"Matthew Boulton",
"Early and family life",
"Who is the father of Matthew?",
"I don't know.",
"Where was matthew born?",
"the Snow Hill area of Birmingham,",
"When was matthew born?",
"I don't know.",
"Which school did matthew go to?",
"As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham.",
"What was special about his early life?",
"The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy."
]
| C_7dfbe48b68e147e4bf0ddbd66c766cc8_1 | What cause the death of her daughters? | 6 | What cause the death of the Boultons' daughters? | Matthew Boulton | The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments. On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759. The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland." The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control. The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.
Born in Birmingham, he was the son of a Birmingham manufacturer of small metal products who died when Boulton was 31. By then Boulton had managed the business for several years, and thereafter expanded it considerably, consolidating operations at the Soho Manufactory, built by him near Birmingham. At Soho, he adopted the latest techniques, branching into silver plate, ormolu and other decorative arts. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional 17 years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. The firm installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines in Britain and abroad, initially in mines and then in factories.
Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph Priestley. The Society met each month near the full moon. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
Boulton founded the Soho Mint, to which he soon adapted steam power. He sought to improve the poor state of Britain's coinage, and after several years of effort obtained a contract in 1797 to produce the first British copper coinage in a quarter century. His "cartwheel" pieces were well-designed and difficult to counterfeit, and included the first striking of the large copper British penny, which continued to be coined until decimalisation in 1971. He retired in 1800, though continuing to run his mint, and died in 1809. His image appears alongside his partner James Watt on the Bank of England's current Series F £50 note.
Background
Birmingham had long been a centre of the ironworking industry. In the early 18th century the town entered a period of expansion as iron working became easier and cheaper with the transition (beginning in 1709) from charcoal to coke as a means of smelting iron. Scarcity of wood in increasingly deforested England and discoveries of large quantities of coal in Birmingham's county of Warwickshire and the adjacent county of Staffordshire speeded the transition. Much of the iron was forged in small foundries near Birmingham, especially in the Black Country, including nearby towns such as Smethwick and West Bromwich. The resultant thin iron sheets were transported to factories in and around Birmingham. With the town far from the sea and great rivers and with canals not yet built, metalworkers concentrated on producing small, relatively valuable pieces, especially buttons and buckles. Frenchman Alexander wrote that while he had seen excellent cane heads, snuff boxes and other metal objects in Milan, "the same can be had cheaper and better in Birmingham". These small objects came to be known as "toys", and their manufacturers as "toymakers".
Boulton was a descendant of families from around Lichfield, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Zachary Babington, having been Chancellor of Lichfield. Boulton's father, also named Matthew and born in 1700, moved to Birmingham from Lichfield to serve an apprenticeship, and in 1723 he married Christiana Piers. The elder Boulton was a toymaker with a small workshop specialising in buckles. Matthew Boulton was born in 1728, their third child and the second of that name, the first Matthew having died at the age of two in 1726.
Early and family life
The elder Boulton's business prospered after young Matthew's birth, and the family moved to the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, then a well-to-do neighbourhood of new houses. As the local grammar school was in disrepair Boulton was sent to an academy in Deritend, on the other side of Birmingham. At the age of 15 he left school, and by 17 he had invented a technique for inlaying enamels in buckles that proved so popular that the buckles were exported to France, then reimported to Britain and billed as the latest French developments.
On 3 March 1749 Boulton married Mary Robinson, a distant cousin and the daughter of a successful mercer, and wealthy in her own right. They lived briefly with the bride's mother in Lichfield, and then moved to Birmingham, where the elder Matthew Boulton made his son a partner at the age of 21. Though the son signed business letters "from father and self", by the mid-1750s he was effectively running the business. The elder Boulton retired in 1757 and died in 1759.
The Boultons had three daughters in the early 1750s, but all died in infancy. Mary Boulton's health deteriorated, and she died in August 1759. Not long after her death Boulton began to woo her sister Anne. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden by ecclesiastical law, though permitted by common law. Nonetheless, they married on 25 June 1760 at St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. Eric Delieb, who wrote a book on Boulton's silver, with a biographical sketch, suggests that the marriage celebrant, Rev. James Penfold, an impoverished curate, was probably bribed. Boulton later advised another man who was seeking to wed his late wife's sister: "I advise you to say nothing of your intentions but to go quickly and snugly to Scotland or some obscure corner of London, suppose Wapping, and there take lodgings to make yourself a parishioner. When the month is expired and the Law fulfilled, live and be happy ... I recommend silence, secrecy, and Scotland."
The union was opposed by Anne's brother Luke, who feared Boulton would control (and possibly dissipate) much of the Robinson family fortune. In 1764 Luke Robinson died, and his estate passed to his sister Anne and thus into Matthew Boulton's control.
The Boultons had two children, Matthew Robinson Boulton and Anne Boulton. Matthew Robinson in turn had six children with two wives. His eldest son Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, broadly educated and also a man of science, gained some fame posthumously for his invention of the important aeronautical flight control, the aileron. As his father before him, he also had two wives and six children.
Innovator
Expansion of the business
After the death of his father in 1759, Boulton took full control of the family toymaking business. He spent much of his time in London and elsewhere, promoting his wares. He arranged for a friend to present a sword to Prince Edward, and the gift so interested the Prince's older brother, George, Prince of Wales, the future King George III, that he ordered one for himself.
With capital accumulated from his two marriages and his inheritance from his father, Boulton sought a larger site to expand his business. In 1761 he leased at Soho, then just in Staffordshire, with a residence, Soho House, and a rolling mill. Soho House was at first occupied by Boulton relatives, and then by his first partner, John Fothergill. In 1766 Boulton required Fothergill to vacate Soho House, and lived there himself with his family. Both husband and wife died there, Anne Boulton of an apparent stroke in 1783 and her husband after a long illness in 1809.
The at Soho included common land that Boulton enclosed, later decrying what he saw as the "idle beggarly" condition of the people who had used it. By 1765 his Soho Manufactory had been erected. The warehouse, or "principal building", had a Palladian front and 19 bays for loading and unloading, and had quarters for clerks and managers on the upper storeys. The structure was designed by local architect William Wyatt at a time when industrial buildings were commonly designed by engineers. Other buildings contained workshops. Boulton and Fothergill invested in the most advanced metalworking equipment, and the complex was admired as a modern industrial marvel. Although the cost of the principal building alone had been estimated at £2,000 (about £276,000 today); the final cost was five times that amount. The partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises. The partners' means were not equal to the total costs, which were met only by heavy borrowing and by artful management of creditors.
Among the products Boulton sought to make in his new facility were sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off. Boulton and his father had long made small silver items, but there is no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton did so. To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm made many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which were shaped and joined together. One impediment to Boulton's work was the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm were generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate had to be sent over to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they could be sent to London, but this exposed them to the risk of being copied by competitors. Boulton wrote in 1771, "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham." Boulton petitioned Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition was bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he was successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths had faced similar difficulties in transporting their wares. The silver business proved not to be profitable due to the opportunity cost of keeping a large amount of capital tied up in the inventory of silver. The firm continued to make large quantities of Sheffield plate, but Boulton delegated responsibility for this enterprise to trusted subordinates, involving himself little in it.
As part of Boulton's efforts to market to the wealthy, he started to sell vases decorated with ormolu, previously a French speciality. Ormolu was milled gold (from the French or moulu) amalgamated with mercury, and applied to the item, which was then heated to drive off the mercury, leaving the gold decoration. In the late 1760s and early 1770s there was a fashion among the wealthy for decorated vases, and he sought to cater to this craze. He initially ordered ceramic vases from his friend and fellow Lunar Society member Josiah Wedgwood, but ceramic proved unable to bear the weight of the decorations and Boulton chose marble and other decorative stone as the material for his vases. Boulton copied vase designs from classical Greek works and borrowed works of art from collectors, merchants, and sculptors.
Fothergill and others searched Europe for designs for these creations. In March 1770 Boulton visited the Royal Family and sold several vases to Queen Charlotte, George III's wife. He ran annual sales at Christie's in 1771 and 1772. The Christie's exhibition succeeded in publicising Boulton and his products, which were highly praised, but the sales were not financially successful with many works left unsold or sold below cost. When the craze for vases ended in the early 1770s, the partnership was left with a large stock on its hands, and disposed of much of it in a single massive sale to Catherine the Great of Russia—the Empress described the vases as superior to French ormolu, and cheaper as well. Boulton continued to solicit orders, though "ormolu" was dropped from the firm's business description from 1779, and when the Boulton-Fothergill partnership was dissolved by the latter's 1782 death there were only 14 items of ormolu in the "toy room".
Among Boulton's most successful products were mounts for small Wedgwood products such as plaques, cameo brooches and buttons in the distinctive ceramics, notably jasper ware, for which Wedgwood's firm remains well known. The mounts of these articles, many of which have survived, were made of ormolu or cut steel, which had a jewel-like gleam. Boulton and Wedgwood were friends, alternately co-operating and competing, and Wedgwood wrote of Boulton, "It doubles my courage to have the first Manufacturer in England to encounter with—The match likes me well—I like the Man, I like his spirit."
In the 1770s Boulton introduced an insurance system for his workers that served as the model for later schemes, allowing his workers compensation in the event of injury or illness. The first of its kind in any large establishment, employees paid one-sixtieth of their wages into the Soho Friendly Society, membership in which was mandatory. The firm's apprentices were poor or orphaned boys, trainable into skilled workmen; he declined to hire the sons of gentlemen as apprentices, stating that they would be "out of place" among the poorer boys.
Not all of Boulton's innovations proved successful. Together with painter Francis Eginton, he created a process for the mechanical reproduction of paintings for middle-class homes, but eventually abandoned the procedure. Boulton and James Keir produced an alloy called "Eldorado metal" that they claimed would not corrode in water and could be used for sheathing wooden ships. After sea trials the Admiralty rejected their claims, and the metal was used for fanlights and sash windows at Soho House. Boulton feared that construction of a nearby canal would damage his water supply, but this did not prove to be the case, and in 1779 he wrote, "Our navigation goes on prosperously; the junction with the Wolverhampton Canal is complete, and we already sail to Bristol and to Hull."
Partnership with Watt
Boulton's Soho site proved to have insufficient hydropower for his needs, especially in the summer when the millstream's flow was greatly reduced. He realised that using a steam engine either to pump water back up to the millpond or to drive equipment directly would help to provide the necessary power. He began to correspond with Watt in 1766, and first met him two years later. In 1769 Watt patented an engine with the innovation of a separate condenser, making it far more efficient than earlier engines. Boulton realised not only that this engine could power his manufactory, but also that its production might be a profitable business venture.
After receiving the patent, Watt did little to develop the engine into a marketable invention, turning to other work. In 1772, Watt's partner, Dr. John Roebuck, ran into financial difficulties, and Boulton, to whom he owed £1,200, accepted his two-thirds share in Watt's patent as satisfaction of the debt. Boulton's partner Fothergill refused to have any part in the speculation, and accepted cash for his share. Boulton's share was worth little without Watt's efforts to improve his invention. At the time, the principal use of steam engines was to pump water out of mines. The engine commonly in use was the Newcomen steam engine, which consumed large amounts of coal and, as mines became deeper, proved incapable of keeping them clear of water. Watt's work was well known, and a number of mines that needed engines put off purchasing them in the hope that Watt would soon market his invention.
Boulton boasted about Watt's talents, leading to an employment offer from the Russian government, which Boulton had to persuade Watt to turn down. In 1774 he was able to convince Watt to move to Birmingham, and they entered into a partnership the following year. By 1775 six of the 14 years of Watt's original patent had elapsed, but thanks to Boulton's lobbying Parliament passed an act extending Watt's patent until 1800. Boulton and Watt began work improving the engine. With the assistance of iron master John Wilkinson (brother-in-law of Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley), they succeeded in making the engine commercially viable.
In 1776 the partnership erected two engines, one for Wilkinson and one at a mine in Tipton in the Black Country. Both engines were successfully installed, leading to favourable publicity for the partnership. Boulton and Watt began to install engines elsewhere. The firm rarely produced the engine itself: it had the purchaser buy parts from a number of suppliers and then assembled the engine on-site under the supervision of a Soho engineer. The company made its profit by comparing the amount of coal used by the machine with that used by an earlier, less efficient Newcomen engine, and required payments of one-third of the savings annually for the next 25 years. This pricing scheme led to disputes, as many mines fuelled the engines using coal of unmarketable quality that cost the mine owners only the expense of extraction. Mine owners were also reluctant to make the annual payments, viewing the engines as theirs once erected, and threatened to petition Parliament to repeal Watt's patent.
The county of Cornwall was a major market for the firm's engines. It was mineral-rich and had many mines. However, the special problems for mining there, including local rivalries and high prices for coal, which had to be imported from Wales, forced Watt and later Boulton to spend several months a year in Cornwall overseeing installations and resolving problems with the mineowners. In 1779 the firm hired engineer William Murdoch, who was able to take over the management of most of the on-site installation problems, allowing Watt and Boulton to remain in Birmingham.
The pumping engine for use in mines was a great success. In 1782 the firm sought to modify Watt's invention so that the engine had a rotary motion, making it suitable for use in mills and factories. On a 1781 visit to Wales Boulton had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told it was often inoperable in the summer due to drought suggested that a steam engine would remedy that defect. Boulton wrote to Watt urging the modification of the engine, warning that they were reaching the limits of the pumping engine market: "There is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." Watt spent much of 1782 on the modification project, and though he was concerned that few orders would result, completed it at the end of the year. One order was received in 1782, and several others from mills and breweries soon after. George III toured the Whitbread brewery in London, and was impressed by the engine there (now preserved at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). As a demonstration, Boulton used two engines to grind wheat at the rate of 150 bushels per hour in his new Albion Mill in London. While the mill was not financially successful, according to historian Jenny Uglow it served as a "publicity stunt par excellence" for the firm's latest innovation. Before its 1791 destruction by fire, the mill's fame, according to early historian Samuel Smiles, "spread far and wide", and orders for rotative engines poured in not only from Britain but from the United States and the West Indies.
Between 1775 and 1800 the firm produced approximately 450 engines. It did not let other manufacturers produce engines with separate condensers, and approximately 1,000 Newcomen engines, less efficient but cheaper and not subject to the restrictions of Watt's patent, were produced in Britain during that time. Boulton boasted to James Boswell when the diarist toured Soho, "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER." The development of an efficient steam engine allowed large-scale industry to be developed, and the industrial city, such as Manchester became, to exist.
Involvement with coinage
By 1786, two-thirds of the coins in circulation in Britain were counterfeit, and the Royal Mint responded by shutting itself down, worsening the situation. Few of the silver coins being passed were genuine. Even the copper coins were melted down and replaced with lightweight fakes. The Royal Mint struck no copper coins for 48 years, from 1773 until 1821. The resultant gap was filled with copper tokens that approximated the size of the halfpenny, struck on behalf of merchants. Boulton struck millions of these merchant pieces. On the rare occasions when the Royal Mint did strike coins, they were relatively crude, with quality control nonexistent.
Boulton had turned his attention to coinage in the mid-1780s; they were just another small metal product like those he manufactured. He also had shares in several Cornish copper mines, and had a large personal stock of copper, purchased when the mines were unable to dispose of it elsewhere. However, when orders for counterfeit money were sent to him, he refused them: "I will do anything, short of being a common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the Birmingham coiners." In 1788 he established the Soho Mint as part of his industrial plant. The mint included eight steam-driven presses, each striking between 70 and 84 coins per minute. The firm had little immediate success getting a licence to strike British coins, but was soon engaged in striking coins for the British East India Company for use in India.
The coin crisis in Britain continued. In a letter to the Master of the Mint, Lord Hawkesbury (whose son would become Prime Minister as Earl of Liverpool) on 14 April 1789, Boulton wrote:
In the course of my journeys, I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, etc. and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings'-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large.
Boulton offered to strike new coins at a cost "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint". He wrote to his friend, Sir Joseph Banks, describing the advantages of his coinage presses:
It will coin much faster, with greater ease, with fewer persons, for less expense, and more beautiful than any other machinery ever used for coining ... Can lay the pieces or blanks upon the die quite true and without care or practice and as fast as wanted. Can work night and day without fatigue by two setts of boys. The machine keeps an account of the number of pieces struck which cannot be altered from the truth by any of the persons employed. The apparatus strikes an inscription upon the edge with the same blow that strikes the two faces. It strikes the [back]ground of the pieces brighter than any other coining press can do. It strikes the pieces perfectly round, all of equal diameter, and exactly concentric with the edge, which cannot be done by any other machinery now in use.
Boulton spent much time in London lobbying for a contract to strike British coins, but in June 1790 the Pitt Government postponed a decision on recoinage indefinitely. Meanwhile, the Soho Mint struck coins for the East India Company, Sierra Leone and Russia, while producing high-quality planchets, or blank coins, to be struck by national mints elsewhere. The firm sent over 20 million blanks to Philadelphia, to be struck into cents and half-cents by the United States Mint—Mint Director Elias Boudinot found them to be "perfect and beautifully polished". The high-technology Soho Mint gained increasing and somewhat unwelcome attention: rivals attempted industrial espionage, while lobbying for Boulton's mint to be shut down.
The national financial crisis reached its nadir in February 1797, when the Bank of England stopped redeeming its bills for gold. In an effort to get more money into circulation, the Government adopted a plan to issue large quantities of copper coins, and Lord Hawkesbury summoned Boulton to London on 3 March 1797, informing him of the Government's plan. Four days later, Boulton attended a meeting of the Privy Council, and was awarded a contract at the end of the month. According to a proclamation dated 26 July 1797, King George III was "graciously pleased to give directions that measures might be taken for an immediate supply of such copper coinage as might be best adapted to the payment of the laborious poor in the present exigency ... which should go and pass for one penny and two pennies". The proclamation required that the coins weigh one and two ounces respectively, bringing the intrinsic value of the coins close to their face value. Boulton made efforts to frustrate counterfeiters. Designed by Heinrich Küchler, the coins featured a raised rim with incuse or sunken letters and numbers, features difficult for counterfeiters to match. The twopenny coins measured exactly an inch and a half across; 16 pennies lined up would reach two feet. The exact measurements and weights made it easy to detect lightweight counterfeits. Küchler also designed proportionate halfpennies and farthings; these were not authorised by the proclamation, and though pattern pieces were struck, they never officially entered circulation. The halfpenny measured ten to a foot, the farthing 12 to a foot. The coins were nicknamed "cartwheels", both because of the size of the twopenny coin and in reference to the broad rims of both denominations. The penny was the first of its denomination to be struck in copper.
The cartwheel twopenny coin was not struck again; much of the mintage was melted down in 1800 when the price of copper increased and it had proved too heavy for commerce and was difficult to strike. Much to Boulton's chagrin, the new coins were being counterfeited in copper-covered lead within a month of issuance. Boulton was awarded additional contracts in 1799 and 1806, each for the lower three copper denominations. Though the cartwheel design was used again for the 1799 penny (struck with the date 1797), all other strikings used lighter planchets to reflect the rise in the price of copper, and featured more conventional designs. Boulton greatly reduced the counterfeiting problem by adding lines to the coin edges, and striking slightly concave planchets. Counterfeiters turned their sights to easier targets, the pre-Soho pieces, which were not withdrawn, due to the expense, until a gradual withdrawal took place between 1814 and 1817.
Watt, in his eulogy after Boulton's death in 1809, stated:
In short, had Mr. Boulton done nothing more in the world than he has accomplished in improving the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in the midst of various other important avocations, and at enormous expense,— for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return,—we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conducted the whole more like a sovereign than a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose.
Activities and views
Scientific studies and the Lunar Society
Boulton never had any formal schooling in science. His associate and fellow Lunar Society member James Keir eulogised him after his death:
Mr. [Boulton] is proof of how much scientific knowledge may be acquired without much regular study, by means of a quick & just apprehension, much practical application, and nice mechanical feelings. He had very correct notions of the several branches of natural philosophy, was master of every metallic art & possessed all the chemistry that had any relations to the object of his various manufactures. Electricity and astronomy were at one time among his favourite amusements.
From an early age, Boulton had interested himself in the scientific advances of his times. He discarded theories that electricity was a manifestation of the human soul, writing "we know tis matter & tis wrong to call it Spirit". He called such theories "Cymeras [chimeras] of each others Brain". His interest brought him into contact with other enthusiasts such as John Whitehurst, who also became a member of the Lunar Society. In 1758 the Pennsylvania printer Benjamin Franklin, the leading experimenter in electricity, journeyed to Birmingham during one of his lengthy stays in Britain; Boulton met him, and introduced him to his friends. Boulton worked with Franklin in efforts to contain electricity within a Leyden jar, and when the printer needed new glass for his "glassychord" (a mechanised version of musical glasses) he obtained it from Boulton.
Despite time constraints imposed on him by the expansion of his business, Boulton continued his "philosophical" work (as scientific experimentation was then called). He wrote in his notebooks observations on the freezing and boiling point of mercury, on people's pulse rates at different ages, on the movements of the planets, and on how to make sealing wax and disappearing ink. However, Erasmus Darwin, another fellow enthusiast who became a member of the Lunar Society, wrote to him in 1763, "As you are now become a sober plodding Man of Business, I scarcely dare trouble you to do me a favour in the ... philosophical way."
The Birmingham enthusiasts, including Boulton, Whitehurst, Keir, Darwin, Watt (after his move to Birmingham), potter Josiah Wedgwood and clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley began to meet informally in the late 1750s. This evolved into a monthly meeting near the full moon, providing light to journey home afterwards, a pattern common for clubs in Britain at the time. The group eventually dubbed itself the "Lunar Society", and following the death of member Dr William Small in 1775, who had informally co-ordinated communication between the members, Boulton took steps to put the Society on a formal footing. They met on Sundays, beginning with dinner at 2 pm, and continuing with discussions until at least 8.
While not a formal member of the Lunar Society, Sir Joseph Banks was active in it. In 1768 Banks sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, and took with him green glass earrings made at Soho to give to the natives. In 1776 Captain Cook ordered an instrument from Boulton, most likely for use in navigation. Boulton generally preferred not to take on lengthy projects, and he warned Cook that its completion might take years. In June 1776 Cook left on the voyage on which he was killed almost three years later, and Boulton's records show no further mention of the instrument.
In addition to the scientific discussions and experiments conducted by the group, Boulton had a business relationship with some of the members. Watt and Boulton were partners for a quarter century. Boulton purchased vases from Wedgwood's pottery to be decorated with ormolu, and contemplated a partnership with him. Keir was a long-time supplier and associate of Boulton, though Keir never became his partner as he hoped.
In 1785 both Boulton and Watt were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society. According to Whitehurst, who wrote to congratulate Boulton, not a single vote was cast against him.
Though Boulton hoped his activities for the Lunar Society would "prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting", as members died or moved away they were not replaced. In 1813, four years after his death, the Society was dissolved and a lottery was held to dispose of its assets. Since there were no minutes of meetings, few details of the gatherings remain. Historian Jenny Uglow wrote of the lasting impact of the Society:
The Lunar Society['s] ... members have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution ... [T]he importance of this particular Society stems from its pioneering work in experimental chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine, combined with leadership in manufacturing and commerce, and with political and social ideals. Its members were brilliant representatives of the informal scientific web which cut across class, blending the inherited skills of craftsmen with the theoretical advances of scholars, a key factor in Britain's leap ahead of the rest of Europe.
Community work
Boulton was widely involved in civic activities in Birmingham. His friend Dr John Ash had long sought to build a hospital in the town. A great fan of the music of Handel, Boulton conceived of the idea to hold a music festival in Birmingham to raise funds for the hospital. The festival took place in September 1768, the first of a series stretching well into the twentieth century. The hospital, Birmingham General, opened in 1779. Boulton also helped build the General Dispensary, where outpatient treatment could be obtained. A firm supporter of the Dispensary, he served as treasurer, and wrote, "If the funds of the institution are not sufficient for its support, I will make up the deficiency." The Dispensary soon outgrew its original quarters, and a new building in Temple Row was opened in 1808, shortly before Boulton's death.
Boulton helped found the New Street Theatre in 1774, and later wrote that having a theatre encouraged well-to-do visitors to come to Birmingham, and to spend more money than they would have otherwise. Boulton attempted to have the theatre recognised as a patent theatre with a Royal Patent, entitled to present serious drama; he failed in 1779 but succeeded in 1807. He also supported Birmingham's Oratorio Choral Society, and collaborated with button maker and amateur musical promoter Joseph Moore to put on a series of private concerts in 1799. He maintained a pew at St Paul's Church, Birmingham, a centre of musical excellence. When performances of the Messiah were organised at Westminster Abbey in 1784 in the (incorrect) belief it was the centennial of Handel's birth and the (correct) belief that it was the 25th anniversary of his death, Boulton attended and wrote, "I scarcely know which was grandest, the sounds or the scene. Both was transcendibly fine that it is not in my power of words to describe. In the grand Halleluja my soul almost ascended from my body."
Concerned about the level of crime in Birmingham, Boulton complained, "The streets are infested from Noon Day to midnight with prostitutes." In an era prior to the establishment of the police, Boulton served on a committee to organise volunteers to patrol the streets at night and reduce crime. He supported the local militia, providing money for weapons. In 1794 he was elected High Sheriff of Staffordshire, his county of residence.
Besides seeking to improve local life, Boulton took an interest in world affairs. Initially sympathetic to the cause of the rebellious American colonists, Boulton changed his view once he realised that an independent America might be damaging towards British trade, and in 1775 organised a petition urging the government to adopt a firmer stance with the Americans—though when the revolution proved successful, he resumed trade with the former colonies. He was more sympathetic to the cause of the French Revolution, believing it justified, though he expressed his horror at the bloody excesses of the Revolutionary government. When war with France broke out, he paid for weapons for a company of volunteers, sworn to resist any French invasion.
Family and later life, death, and memorials
When Boulton was widowed in 1783 he was left with the care of his two teenage children. Neither his son Matthew Robinson Boulton nor his daughter Anne enjoyed robust health; the younger Matthew was often ill and was a poor student who was shuttled from school to school until he joined his father's business in 1790; Anne suffered from a diseased leg that prevented her from enjoying a full life. Despite his lengthy absences on business, Boulton cared deeply for his family. He wrote to his wife in January 1780,
Nothing could in the least palliate this long, this cold, this very distant separation from my dearest wife and children but the certain knowledge that I am preparing for their ease, happiness and prosperity, and when that is the prise, I know no hardships that I would not encounter with, to obtain it.
With the expiry of the patent in 1800 both Boulton and Watt retired from the partnership, each turning over his role to his namesake son. The two sons made changes, quickly ending public tours of the Soho Manufactory in which the elder Boulton had taken pride throughout his time in Soho. In retirement Boulton remained active, continuing to run the Soho Mint. When a new Royal Mint was built on Tower Hill in 1805, Boulton was awarded the contract to equip it with modern machinery. His continued activity distressed Watt, who had entirely retired from Soho, and who wrote to Boulton in 1804, "[Y]our friends fear much that your necessary attention to the operation of the coinage may injure your health".
Boulton helped deal with the shortage of silver, persuading the Government to let him overstrike the Bank of England's large stock of Spanish dollars with an English design. The Bank had attempted to circulate the dollars by countermarking the coins on the side showing the Spanish king with a small image of George III, but the public was reluctant to accept them, in part due to counterfeiting. This attempt inspired the couplet, "The Bank to make their Spanish Dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Boulton obliterated the old design in his restriking. Though Boulton was not as successful in defeating counterfeiters as he hoped (high quality fakes arrived at the Bank's offices within days of the issuance), these coins circulated until the Royal Mint again struck large quantities of silver coin in 1816, when Boulton's were withdrawn. He oversaw the final issue of his coppers for Britain in 1806, and a major issue of coppers to circulate only in Ireland. Even as his health failed, he had his servants carry him from Soho House to the Soho Mint, and he sat and watched the machinery,which was kept exceptionally busy in 1808 by the striking of almost 90,000,000 pieces for the East India Company. He wrote, "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon, there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining."
By early 1809 he was seriously ill. He had long suffered from kidney stones, which also lodged in the bladder, causing him great pain. He died at Soho House on 17 August 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, in Birmingham – the church was later extended over the site of his grave. Inside the church, on the north wall of the sanctuary, is a large marble monument to him, commissioned by his son, sculpted by the sculptor John Flaxman. It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Boulton is recognised by several memorials and other commemorations in and around Birmingham. Soho House, his home from 1766 until his death, is now a museum, as is his first workshop, Sarehole Mill. The Soho archives are part of the Birmingham City Archives, at the Library of Birmingham. He is recognised by blue plaques at his Steelhouse Lane birthplace and at Soho House. A gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch (1956) by William Bloye stands opposite Centenary Square in central Birmingham. Matthew Boulton College was named in his honour in 1957. The two-hundredth anniversary of his death, in 2009, resulted in a number of tributes. Birmingham City Council promoted "a year long festival celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton".
On 29 May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Boulton and Watt would appear on a new £50 note. The design is the first to feature a dual portrait on a Bank of England note, and presents the two industrialists side by side with images of a steam engine and Boulton's Soho Manufactory. Quotes attributed to each of the men are inscribed on the note: "I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER" (Boulton) and "I can think of nothing else but this machine" (Watt). The notes entered circulation on 2 November 2011.
In March 2009, Boulton was honoured with the issue of a Royal Mail postage stamp. On 17 October 2014 a bronze memorial plaque to Boulton was unveiled in the Chapel of St Paul, Westminster Abbey, beside the plaque to his business partner James Watt.
Notes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
Further reading
External links
Matthew Boulton Bicentenary Celebrations 2009 on Birmingham Assay Office's website
Archives at Birmingham Central Library
Revolutionary Players website
Cornwall Record Office Boulton & Watt letters
Soho Mint website, celebrating Matthew Boulton, his mint and its products
Soho House Museum, Matthew Boulton's home from 1766 till his death in 1809, became a Museum in 1995
1728 births
1809 deaths
18th-century British engineers
18th-century British inventors
English business theorists
English engineers
English silversmiths
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
High Sheriffs of Staffordshire
Industrial Revolution in England
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People of the Industrial Revolution
British businesspeople in retailing | false | [
"Coleta Meléndez Torres (or Menendez De La Torre, 1886-1917) was a young woman who entered the Association of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate of the town of Degollado, Mexico. On December 24, 1917 she defended her purity from an attack by guerrillas, and fell on her friend Maria de San José (or Josefa) Parra Flores in a burning building: Both girls burnt to death. They were respectively twenty-five and twenty-one years old. The permission for the start of their cause of beatification and canonization, in charge of the diocese of San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico, dated October 12, 1995.\n\nReferences\n\n \n \n \n\n1886 births\n1917 deaths\nMexican women",
"Mary Shirley, Countess Ferrers (c.1730 – 25 July 1807), formerly Mary Meredith, later Lady Frederick Campbell, was an English noblewoman.\n\nMary was the youngest daughter of Amos Meredith of Henbury, Cheshire, and his wife, the former Joanna Cholmondeley. Her brother, William, was an MP and became 3rd Baronet Meredith in 1752, on the death of his grandfather.\n\nOn 16 September 1752, she married Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers. In 1758, the couple were legally separated, with Mary citing the earl's cruelty as the cause. He was widely believed to come from a family where mental illness was congenital, and in 1760 he was found guilty of murdering one of his servants, and was hanged at Tyburn in May 1760. At his execution he wore his wedding suit, claiming that his \"unhappy conduct\" was the result of \"a forced marriage\". There were no children from the marriage,\n\nOn 28 March 1769, Mary married Lord Frederick Campbell, a brother of the Duke of Argyll; they had two daughters. One of their daughters, Mary, married Captain Donald Campbell of Barbreck.\n\nLady Campbell was killed in a fire at their home, Combe Bank, Kent. Since the fire caused little damage to the house, it was speculated that Lady Campbell had suffered some kind of fit \"with her head in the candle\".Her second husband outlived her by nine years.\n\nReferences\n\n1730s births\n1807 deaths\nDeaths from fire\nBritish countesses\nDaughters of baronets\nAccidental deaths in England"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization"
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | Was he for or against sterilization? | 1 | Was Havelock Ellis for or against sterilization? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | true | [
"V.C. vs Slovakia was the first case in which the European Court for Human Rights ruled in favor of a Romani woman who was a victim of forced sterilization in the state hospital in Slovakia. It is one of many cases of forced sterilization of Roma women brought to the Court by the Slovak feminist group Center for Civil and Human Rights from Košice.\n\nThe woman, known by the initials V.C., was forcibly sterilized in the state hospital, Prešov Hospital, in Eastern Slovakia on 23 August 2000, during the delivery of her second child. According to her medical records, shortly before her delivery was terminated by caesarean section, and while she was in labour and having contractions every three minutes, the hospital staff pressured her to sign a one sentence declaration as \"a request for sterilization\". She was told that unless she signed that declaration, she or her baby would die. V.C. did not understand what sterilization meant but she signed nonetheless, in fear for her life. She was sterilized during the procedure.\n\nLater, she learned that the sterilization was not necessary for saving her life, since it is merely a form of contraception. V.C. was greatly traumatized by the forced sterilization. Her husband divorced her, she was ostracized by the community, experienced a hysterical pregnancy, and had to undergo psychiatric counselling.\n\nIn 2004, V.C. sued for damages from the Prešov hospital in Slovakian courts, including the Constitutional Court of Slovakia. All her petitions were rejected. In 2007, she brought a complaint against Slovakia to the European Court. The European Court held a hearing into the case on 22 March 2011. On 8 November 2011 the Court found a violation of her rights; her right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment (under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the right to private and family life (under Article 8 of the Convention). The Court rejected the claims of the Slovak Government that sterilization was \"medically necessary\" since sterilization is not a life-saving surgery and V.C.'s informed consent was needed. In the court's view, the approach of the Prešov Hospital was not compatible with the Convention as it did not permit V.C. to take a decision of her own free will, after consideration of all the relevant issues.\n\nThe Slovak Government was ordered to pay V.C. compensation of 31,000 EUR and reimbursement of her legal costs.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n Judgement of the European Court of 8 November 2011 on Application no. 18968/07\n Record of the hearing at the European Court of Human Rights on 22 March 2011\n\nEuropean Court of Human Rights cases involving Slovakia\nAntiziganism in Slovakia\nArticle 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights\nArticle 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights\nRomani in Slovakia",
"The Alberta Eugenics Board was an agency created by the Alberta government in 1928 that attempted to impose sterilization on a disabled subset of its population, in accordance with the principles of eugenics. It remained active until 1972, when it was dissolved.\n\nOrigin\nIn 1928, the Alberta government (Alberta, Canada) passed eugenics legislation that enabled the involuntary sterilization of individuals classified as mentally deficient (now known as persons with a developmental disability or mental disorder), with the consent of the patient or his/her guardian or next-of-kin. To implement the Sexual Sterilization Act, a four-member Alberta Eugenics Board was created to recommend individuals for sterilization. The Act was amended in 1937 to allow sterilization without consent. In 1972, the Act was repealed and the Board dismantled. During its 43 years in operation, the Board approved nearly 5,000 cases and 2,832 sterilizations were performed. The actions of the Board came under public scrutiny in 1995 with Leilani Muir's successful lawsuit against the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization.\n\nEugenics: Like begets like\nAlthough Mendelian inheritance principles were well understood by geneticists in 1928, advocates of the eugenics movement held onto the unfounded premise that \"like begets like\". They believed that social degenerates would procreate and pass on their \"undesirable\" traits to their offspring. Although it was known at the time, for recessive disorders, like does not always beget like, and with dominant disorders, there is only a 50% risk of transmission to the child. The progeny of parents with mental deficiencies are not always born with an inherited disorder. Mental disorder phenotypes are influenced by environmental interactions, such as German measles, and are often independent of an individual's genome.\n\nHistorical context\nThe province of Alberta was the first part of the British Empire to adopt a sterilization law, and was the only Canadian province that vigorously implemented it. Eugenics was widely discussed in the U.S. at the time and British Columbia and Alberta were influenced by American trends. During early debates regarding the sexual sterilization bill in Alberta, there were many references made to U.S. legislation. As Canada was being populated by immigrants, the eugenics movement was emerging and gaining the support of influential sponsors, such as J.S. Woodsworth, Emily Murphy, Helen MacMurchy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, and Robert Charles Wallace. In Alberta, eugenics supporters had seemingly positive intentions with the goal of bettering the gene pool and society at large. The burden put on hard-working farm mothers by mentally-challenged children with adult sex drives was a major impetus to UFA cabinet minister Irene Parlby.\n\nIn 1918, the Canadian National Committee on Mental Hygiene (CNCMH) was established by Dr. Clarence Hincks. The Committee's aim was \"to fight crime, prostitution, and unemployment\" which it claimed was strongly tied to feeble-mindedness. One of the projects that the CNCMH and Hincks took on, along with Dr. C.K. Clarke, was conducting provincial surveys of mental institutions in 1919, and making subsequent recommendations to the provincial government. Visiting several institutions, the results of their survey, published in 1921, attributed social inefficiency and corruption to mental inadequacy, and recommended sterilization as a preventative measure. They claimed to have found \"scientific proof\" linking feeble-mindedness to social issues.\n\nAt the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) party convention in 1922, in response to this survey, the Alberta government was called on to draft and implement legislation for the segregation of feeble-minded adults. The government was also asked to investigate the feasibility of implementing a sterilization program in Alberta. R.G. Reid, the Minister of Health, assured eugenics supporters that the provincial government was in favour of a sterilization program, and was only waiting for public opinion to catch up.\n\nThe United Farm Women of Alberta lobbied for sterilization laws, and members used their connections with the UFA government to get legislation passed. At a campaign in 1924, president Margaret Gunn proclaimed, \"Democracy was never intended for degenerates\". The rationale that eugenics supporters gave was that families with \"defective\" offspring were a financial burden on the province, especially in times of economic adversity.\n\nOn March 25, 1927, George Hoadley, Minister of Agriculture and Health in John E. Brownlee's UFA government, introduced a sexual sterilization bill. The bill faced enormous opposition, primarily from the Conservative and Liberal parties, and did not pass the second reading. Hoadley promised to reintroduce it the following year and, on February 23, 1928, the bill was passed. On March 21, 1928, the lieutenant governor gave royal assent to the Sexual Sterilization Act. Brought in by the UFA, the Act remained in place under the following Social Credit governments of William Aberhart and Ernest Manning, which amended the Act in 1937 to allow sterilization without consent, and the first year of the Progressivr Conservative government. After Peter Lougheed's Progressive Conservative government took power, the Alberta Eugenics Board was finally disbanded and the Sexual Sterilization Act repealed in 1972.\n\nBoard structure\nThe Alberta Eugenics Board was created in order to administer the province's eugenics program. The Sexual Sterilization Act required that a four-person Board determine, on a case by case basis, whether sterilization was appropriate for a particular individual. The Act gave the Board power to review cases of patients living in or discharged from mental institutions and order their sterilization, if deemed necessary. A unanimous decision required, as was consent from the patient, parent, or guardian and was essential for the surgical procedures to proceed. The Act put in place specific requirements for its board members: two members were required to be medical practitioners, nominated by the Senate of the University of Alberta and the Council of the College of Physicians. The other two non-medical members were appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and had esteemed reputations.\n\nThe original four members\nThe first members appointed to the Alberta Eugenics Board were:\nDr. E. Pope, Edmonton\nDr. E.G. Mason, Calgary\nDr. J.M. MacEachran, Edmonton\nMrs. Jean H. Field, Kinuso.\n\nDr. MacEachran, a philosopher and professor at the University of Alberta, was appointed Chair, and he served continuously in this position for nearly 40 years, resigning in 1965. He was succeeded by Dr. R.K. Thompson, a medical doctor who chaired the Board until the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed in 1972. Over the Board's 43-year duration, there were only 21 board members. Between 1929 and 1972, all four members were present for approximately 97% of the 398 meetings that were held.\n\nBoard meetings and procedures\nThe first meeting of the Alberta Eugenics Board took place in January 1929. At the second meeting, in March 1929, the Board established a protocol to be followed during its quarterly meetings. At meetings the superintendents of Alberta mental institutions presented cases to the Board, along with prepared presentation summaries for each individual considered for sterilization. These summaries documented: family history, sexual history, medical history and diagnosis, personality, psychosocial development, education, results of IQ testing, criminal record, ethnicity, religion, age, and other information that could be used to inform the Board's decision. Presenting mental institutions in Alberta included: the Alberta Hospital in Ponoka, the Provincial Training School (later known as Alberta School Hospital/Deerhome, and Michener Center) in Red Deer, and the Alberta Hospital in Oliver.\n\nPatients were then interviewed by the Board and recommendations were made for sterilization. If they could not attend, members sometimes saw the patient in their institutional ward. Consent was initially required for all operational procedures, either from the patients, their parent or guardian. A competent surgeon was appointed to the case; however the Act stated they were not liable to any civil action. Various types of operations were performed: vasectomies, salpingectomies (tubal ligation), orchidectomies (removal of the testes), oophorectomies (removal of the ovaries), and sometimes hysterectomies. Operations took place in approved hospitals designated by the Board. In addition to the appointed board members and presenters, it was not uncommon for other professionals, support staff, or visitors to attend patient interviews.\n\nTypically, 4–15 people attended Board meetings, averaging 8.4 persons per meeting. On average, the Board spent approximately 13 minutes reviewing each case, and members discussed about 13 cases per meeting. The Board retained individual-level files for all of the cases considered. One of the Board's main concerns was tracking the number of people processed. In addition to the routine case reviews, members spent time during 63% of its meetings discussing general issues, signing forms, and reviewing correspondence.\n\nAmendments to the Sexual Sterilization Act\nBy 1937, 400 operations had been completed and amendments to the Act were made. The first amendment came shortly after the Social Credit government came into power in 1935. The new Minister of Health, Wallace Warren Cross, was dismayed that only hundreds of individuals had been sterilized when thousands could have been done but were not due to consent requirements. Following the change in legislation, if individuals were regarded as mental defectives, consent was no longer necessary for their sterilization. A month after this amendment a special Alberta Eugenics Board meeting was held in order to review past cases of individuals who were now eligible for sterilization.\n\nAnother part of the 1937 amendment increased the Board's power: sterilization procedures were approved if the Board deemed an individual \"incapable of intelligent parenthood\". The success of this amendment was celebrated in 1937 in an article published by two mental health professionals, R.R. MacLean and E.J. Kibblewhite, where they noted the increasing simplicity with which the Board could proceed with its business.\n\nIn 1942, an additional amendment widened the application of the Act to include more mental patients. Non-psychotic individuals with syphilis, epilepsy, and Huntington's Chorea were now encompassed by the Act; however, for reasons unknown, the Board maintained that consent was still required for these cases.\n\nBoard actions\nBetween 1929 and 1972, 4,785 cases were presented to the Alberta Eugenics Board, and 99% of these cases were approved. Of all the approved cases, 60% were completed resulting in the sterilization of 2,832 of Alberta's children and adults in the Board's 43-year history. There was a high correlation between absence of consent requirement and subsequent sterilization: 89% of all presented and approved cases did not require consent for sterilization to occur, as opposed to 15% of cases where consent was necessary.\n\nBeginning in the 1940s, women were more likely to be presented to the Board than men, even though they constituted less than 40% of all patients in the feeder institutions. On average, 64% of all women whose cases were presented to the Board were sterilized in comparison to 54% of men. Of the 2,832 sterilization procedures completed, 58% were performed on females. The over-representation of women may reflect gender role expectations, where these women were considered \"incapable of intelligent parenting\".\n\nIn addition to women, the Board targeted youth and young adults for sterilization. Although they made up less than 20% of the Albertan population at the time, they comprised 44% of all presented cases and 55% of all sterilization cases. Children and patients who were age 40 and older were notably under-represented, as the Board focused its efforts on individuals in the \"child-bearing years\" – those who were able and most likely to reproduce.\n\nOver four decades, Indigenous people (i.e., First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) were the foremost targets of the Board's actions. Only representing 2–3% of Alberta's population, they comprised 6% of all presented sterilization cases. Of all aboriginal cases presented to the Board, 74% resulted in sterilization.\n\nRegarding the feeder institutions, the Alberta Hospital in Ponoka was responsible for about 60% of all cases considered, followed by the Provincial Training School and Deerhome in Red Deer with 25%, and the Alberta Hospital in Oliver with 14%.\n\nBoard controversy\nThe majority of Alberta Eugenics Board activities were conducted in secret, sheltered from public criticism and legislative scrutiny. This secrecy and lack of transparency, combined with the cooperation of the provincial government and feeder institutions, resulted in the Board pursuing illicit activities not encompassed by the Act. The fact that the Board approved 99% of all presented cases calls into question the validity and accountability of its procedures. Some cases were approved even when patients' IQ scores were above the criterion score established by the Board for sterilization. At times, surgeons performed operations without the Board's approval. Sterilization procedures were also ordered for individuals who were already infertile – most notably, a group of 15 boys with Down syndrome where testicular biopsy tissue was surgically removed for the purpose of medical research.\n\nRepeal\nThe Progressive Conservative party led by Peter Lougheed came to power in 1971 and, a year later, passed the Alberta Bill of Rights. Shortly after, the new provincial government revoked the Sexual Sterilization Act and folded the Alberta Eugenics Board, citing three reasons: \n Primarily, the Act violated fundamental human rights. \n It was based on medical and genetics theories which are now of questionable scientific validity.\n It was full of legal ambiguities, most notably in the section exempting surgeons from civil liability.\n\nIn the mid-1990s, Leilani Muir, a victim of involuntary sterilization in 1959, sued the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization. The case went to full trial in 1995, Muir won the case in 1996, and she was awarded nearly C$1 million in damages and legal costs. Since Muir's precedent-setting trial, over 850 victims have filed lawsuits against the Alberta government; the majority of these have been settled out of court and C$142 million in damages have been awarded.\n\nSee also\nCompulsory sterilization in Canada\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\nCairney, R. (1996). \"'Democracy was never intended for degenerates': Alberta's flirtation with eugenics comes back to haunt it\". Canadian Medical Association Journal, 155(6): 789-792.\nCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). (1999, Nov 9). \"Alberta apologizes for forced sterilization\". CBC News. Retrieved on October 11, 2012 from, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/1999/11/02/sterilize991102.html\nChristian, T.J. (1973). The mentally ill and human rights in Alberta: A study of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act. Edmonton: Faculty of Law, University of Alberta.\nFrost, E.M. (1942). Sterilization of Alberta: A summary of the cases presented to the Eugenics Board for the Province of Alberta from 1929 to 1941. Masters Thesis. Edmonton: University of Alberta.\nGrekul, J., Krahn, H., & Odynak, D. (2004). \"Sterilizing the 'feeble-minded': Eugenics in Alberta, Canada, 1929-1972\". Journal of Historical Sociology, 17(4): 358-384. ISSN 0952-1909\nMcLaren, A. (1990). Our own master race: Eugenics in Canada, 1885-1945. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.\n\"Muir v. The Queen in Right of Alberta\". (1996). Dominion Law Reports, 132 (4th series): 695-762. Retrieved on October 16, 2012 from, http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/1996/1996canlii7287/1996canlii7287.pdf\nPringle, H. (1997, Jun). \"Alberta barren\". Saturday Night, 12(5): 30-37; 70; 74.\nPuplampu, K. (2008). \"Knowledge, power, and social policy: John M. MacEachran and Alberta's 1928 Sexual Sterilization Act\". The Alberta Journal of Education Research, 54(2): 129-146.\nWahlsten, D. (1997). \"Leilani Muir versus the philosopher king: Eugenics on trial in Alberta\". Genetica, 99: 185-198.\n\nDevelopmental disabilities\nEugenics organizations\nAlberta law\nAlberta\nPolitical history of Alberta"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | Did he hae another motion in mind? | 2 | Besides the the idea of castration for eugenic purposes, did Havelock Ellis have another motion in mind? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | true | [
"Hae Buru (; 86 – 48 BCE) was king of Bukbuyeo and founder of Dongbuyeo (86 BCE – 22 CE), an ancient Korean kingdom.\n\nHae Buru took the throne and became the king of Bukbuyeo. Hae Buru led his followers and some of Bukbuyeo people to the city of Gaseopwon, a city near the Sea of Japan (East Korean Sea). In that same year, Hae Buru founded another Buyeo, which he named Dongbuyeo, due to its position east of Bukbuyeo.\n\nAccording to the Samguk Yusa, Aranbul, a minister of the Buyeo court, had a dream in which the Heavenly Emperor told him that Buyeo was to make way for the descendants of Heaven, and believing that the dream was a sort of omen, he advised his king Buru to move the capital. Buru later moved his capital to Gaseopwon((迦葉原), and named his country Dongbuyeo.\n\nHae Buru's wives apparently were not able to produce a male heir for Hae Buru until he was in old age. Hae Buru eventually got a son, Geumwa, of whom he trained and grew into his successor. When Hae Buru died in 48 BCE, Geumwa rose to the throne by proclaiming himself \"King of Dongbuyeo.\"\n\nIn popular culture\n Portrayed by Park Geun-hyung in the 2006-2007 MBC TV series Jumong.\n\nSee also \n List of Korean monarchs\n History of Korea\n Dongbuyeo\n\nReferences\n\nHistory of Korea\nBuyeo rulers\n1st-century BC rulers in Asia\nYear of birth unknown\n48 BC deaths\n1st-century BC Korean people\nFounding monarchs",
"Sarasah is a Korean manhwa written by Ryu Ryang and published by Yen Press.\n\nPlot\n\nJi-Hae is an average high school girl who has had crush on Seung-Hyu for a very long time. Seung-Hyu, has rejected Ji-Hae's public confessions of love on multiple occasions. After her last & most embarrassing declaration of love, Seung-Hyu lost his patience and pushed her, causing Ji-hae to fall down a flight of stairs to her death. In the after life, Ji-Hae is greeted by a couple of sympathetic Gods who are touched by her unrequited feelings & untimely death. Looking at her spirit, they sense that Ji-Hae's problems were caused in a former life and therefore send her back in time.\n\nAfter being sent back a few centuries, Ji-Hae wakes up in the body of her past life with a floral tattoo on her chest, which will gradually bloom more as someone falls deeper in love with her. She meets Seung-Hyu's past self, Ja-Yun, who is already in love with another girl who will eventually end up dying due to Ja-Yun's actions. \n\nAs a daughter to a high-ranking official Ji-Hae disguises herself \nas a boy to join the Hwa Rang (local male educational facility) to get close to Ja-Yun. Ji-Hae's life becomes more complicated as she tries to balance her multiple identities (a modern girl from the future, a socially elite female and a lower class young male with aspirations) strikes up a close friendship with Ja-Yun's girlfriend, and attracts the affections of various different handsome young men.\n\nTo date, the story remains unfinished as only five volumes have been translated into English by Yen Press, with no sign of further volumes being published.\n\nCharacters\n\nJi-hae\nA tomboyish girl who likes Seung-hyu but was pushed down from a flight of stairs that led to her death. When she was sent to the past she grew her hair longer. She used the name Seung-hyu to be a \"nang-do\".\n\nSeung-hyu – \nThe boy Ji-Hae has a crush on who pushed her down a flight of stairs leading to her death (it might have been accidental).\n\nJa-yun-\nThe past self of Seung-Hyu. A boy who comes from a low class background. Is in the Hwa Rang also the reason Ji-Hae joins the Hwa Rang disguised as a boy. Currently thinks Ji-Hae is a boy. Finds out Ji-Hae is a girl later on. It seems that he fell in love with Ji-hae a little.\n\nBun Min Rang\nA general in the Hwa Rang and the only one who knows Ji-Hae's secret. He fell in love with Ji-hae. He doesn't like Misa-heul very much.\nHas excellent skills in sword fighting\n\nMisa-heul \nA cold/smart guy. The leader of The Hwa-Rang's and he's also Ja-Yun's boss.\nJi-Hae accidentally injures him with and arrow but later treats his wound. Also finds out Ji-Hae is a girl later on.\n\nLady Ari\nJi-hae's past self, she is the opposite of Ji-hae as she is feminine, smart and arrogant. She fell in love with Ja-yun, but was rejected and she was jealous of \nSo-dan because she was his lover, so she paid So-dan's father to sell her to a noble who loves young beautiful girl and ended up (unintentionally) killing her.\n\nSo-dan\nSeung-hyu's past lover. She is very beautiful and kind. In the past she was killed by Ari unintentionally. Because she was killed is what led Seung-hyu to hate Ji-hae in the present.\n\nReferences \n\nManhwa titles\nYen Press titles"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes.",
"Did he hae another motion in mind?",
"he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | Why did he believe that? | 3 | Why did Havelock Ellis believe that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus the removal of the sexual glands could greatly injure the patient? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | true | [
"Jenna Drey is an American female singer-songwriter who is a dance-pop and dance music artist. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and resides in Miami, Florida. She is a classically trained three-octave vocalist and pianist who studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, in theory and composition. Drey is the daughter of television and film actress Margaret Teele.\n\nCareer\nDrey's early career began as a songwriter. She won over eight multiple songwriting awards including the 2004 VH1 Songwriting Contest, the Gibson Guitar Dallas Songwriting Contest for \"Stand in Line\" and the grand prize in the 6th Great American Song Contest for her song \"Impossibility\". This continued onto international competitions including the International Songwriting Competition for \"Killin' Me\", which eventually became her first radio dance hit. It was soon after that her first radio single \"Just Like That\" was produced by Nile Rodgers and was adopted as the battle song for the 2004 World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox. The chorus of the song, revised to \"Reverse the Curse, Just Like That\", played at the televised home games, reaching an audience of over 12.5 million baseball fans each week. This continued with Song of the Year Contest for a win in two categories for best dance song and pop song.\n\nAfter teaming up with co-writer and producer Kevin Churko, multiple Juno Award-winning producer-writer whose credits include Shania Twain, Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch and more, a number of her songs succeeded on the charts. In 2005, \"Killin' Me (Where Did I Go Wrong)\" rose to number 11 on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay and number 6 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The follow-up, \"Why Should I Believe You\", peaked in Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay at number 24 and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play Top 10 in 2006.\n\nLater that year, Drey was signed to dance record label Robbins Entertainment and she wrote and performed the dance-pop single \"By the Way\". It became her most successful single on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay chart, peaking at number 4, maintaining a chart position for over 10 weeks. On the Hot Dance Club Play chart, it was her third consecutive top-twenty hit, reaching number 19.\n\nIn fall 2008, her single \"All Out Of Love\" was played by both Hot AC and Soft AC radio stations across the country. With a review feature from Chuck Taylor at Billboard Magazine, the single found its way across a wide variety of stations in the U.S., including WKTU in New York City and KBIG Los Angeles, as well as making its way to the R&R Top 40 Indicator charts.\n\nThe founder of Monster Cable, Noel Lee, agreed to use Drey's dance hit \"Why Should I Believe You\" to film the first music video ever in WMV HD (720p) with 7.1 digital audio. It was filmed at Microsoft Studios in Washington, and the content was used in a nationwide, big chain store calibration video called \"Monster / ISF HDTV Calibration Wizard DVD\", which was also narrated by Drey.\n\nIn 2008, Drey performed in Beatstock at Jones Beach in NY and the PCN Bank Arts Center with artists such as Basshunter, The Pussycat Dolls, September, and more.\n\nIn 2011, Drey released \"Can't Let Go\" which received airplay on reporting dance leaning stations such as C89.5 Seattle, Music Choice, WNRG 107.9 and more which made top 100 most played Dance songs of the Year. In the summer 2012, she released \"Summer Night in Seattle\". [1].\n\nDrey has had songs appear in TV and film, licensed for such shows as America's Next Top Model, the new DVD re-pressings for shows Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place, and a feature song, \"Let's Go Ride It\", in the motion picture Bachelor Party Vegas. Her original song \"Don't Wanna Cry Anymore\" was a feature song in the motion picture '‘The Big Gay Musical’'.\n\nJenna Drey has been the headliner performer in club venues and a particular favorite of Gay Pride events. Drey has been the headliner at some of the biggest Pride events in the U.S., including the Washington, D.C., 2012 Seattle, Chicago, Providence, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, 2010 Flagstaff, and Minneapolis.\n\nDiscography\n\nJust Like That\n \"Just Like That\"\n \"That's What They All Say\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\"\n \"Stand in Line\"\n \"Say Goodbye to Loneliness\"\n \"Shadow of a Stranger\"\n \"More Than This\"\n \"Killin' Me (Where Did I Go Wrong?)\" pop version\n \"Let's Ride Your Motorcycle\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\" bagpipe mix\n \"Say Goodbye to Loneliness\" dance remix\n \"Just Like That\" Churko/Euro pop mix\n \"Just Like That\" Stadium Sports Theme\n\nOne Step Further\n \"One Step Further\"\n \"By the Way\"\n \"Killin' Me (Where Did I Go Wrong?)\" Rizzo radio :)\n \"We're All Alone\"\n \"Don't Wanna Cry Anymore\"\n \"Shadow of a Stranger\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\" Harris dance\n \"All Out of Love\"\n \"Impossibility\"\n \"Thousand Times a Day\"\n \"I Told You So\"\n \"Was It Something I Said\"\n \"Breaking Me\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\" Churko bagpipe\n \"Killin' Me (Where Did I Go Wrong?)\" Giuseppe D remix\n \"One Step Further\" rockin' radio\n\nSingles\n \"Killin' Me (Where Did I Go Wrong)\"\n \"Why Should I Believe You\"\n \"Say Goodbye To Loneliness\"\n \"Just Like That\"\n \"More Than This\"\n \"By The Way\"\n \"Girlz Night Out\"\n \"All Out of Love\"\n \"Can't Let Go\"\n \"Summer Night in Seattle\"\n \"Making Me Love Again\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Impact Artist Promotions (2006), Jenna Drey – Artist Promo spotlight\n\nAmerican women singer-songwriters\nAmerican women pop singers\nAmerican dance musicians\nSingers from Los Angeles\nRobbins Entertainment artists\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nSinger-songwriters from California\n21st-century American women",
"John 20:8 is the eighth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Peter and the Beloved Disciple are examining Jesus's empty tomb. Peter has been inside the tomb since John 20:6, while the Beloved Disciple had been examining it from outside. In this verse the Beloved Disciple enters the tomb.\n\nContent\nIn the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:\nThen went in also that\nother disciple, which\ncame first to the sepulchre,\nand he saw, and believed.\n\nThe English Standard Version translates the passage as:\nThen the other disciple,\nwho had reached the tomb first,\nalso went in,\nand he saw and believed\n\nFor a collection of other versions see BibleHub John 20:8\n\nAnalysis\nThe central debate over this verse is what exactly the Beloved Disciple believed. The earlier verses mention only Jesus' grave clothes as being in the tomb. The debate is whether the Beloved Disciple could have come to believe in the resurrection based on such minimal evidence. If he did suddenly understand what had happened, why did he not share this understanding with Peter, or with Mary Magdalene who is also believed to be present? Why, after this revelation, does the Beloved Disciple simply leave to go home in John 20:10? A long line of scholars including Saint Augustine have thus argued that the Beloved Disciple simply came to believe Mary Magdalene's story that the body was gone.\n\nThe majority of scholars believe that this passage indicates the Beloved Disciple became aware of the resurrection albeit with limited understanding. Calvin said, \"it is a poor exposition which some people give of these words, that John believed what he heard Mary say namely, that Christ's body had been carried away; there is no passage in which the word 'believe' carries this meaning, especially when it is used simply and on its own\". Leonard argues that the fact that the grave clothes were left carefully in place clearly indicated that the body had not been stolen, and instead showed that Jesus had been resurrected. Bultmann believes that Peter had already realized what had happened, and in this passage the Beloved Disciple merely joins Peter in this understanding. Bruce disagrees, arguing the scripture implies that Peter remained ignorant. Luke 24:12 has Peter leaving the scene \"wondering what had happened\". Most scholars who read the verse as indicating that the Beloved Disciple understood the resurrection believe that he was the first person to reach this understanding.\n\nSchnackenberg takes a third approach. He argues that this passage does intend to report that Beloved Disciple understood the resurrection, but that the verse was a later addition to the text. This theory would explain why the verse does not mesh well with the rest of the narrative. The realization of the Beloved Disciple, despite its seeming importance, is not again mentioned in the narrative.\n\nJohn 20:9 further complicates this debate by stating that they remained ignorant, without clearly explaining who they are.\n\nIt is also possible that the verse is an error. Brown reports that the Codex Bezae has the passage reading that \"he saw and did not believe\", which seems logically more in keeping with the rest of the chapter.\n\nAnother issue is what this passage reveals about the architecture of Jesus's tomb. It seems to show that two grown men could enter with ease (unless the first exited before the second entered). This is somewhat unusual as tombs in this period were generally quite small. Passages such as John 20:11 also seem to describe a smaller tomb.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nJohn Calvin's commentary on John 20:1-9\nJesus Appears to His Disciples\n\n20:08"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes.",
"Did he hae another motion in mind?",
"he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.",
"Why did he believe that?",
"His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | Was there any controversy on his view? | 4 | Was there any controversy on Havelock Ellis' view that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather sexual impulses persist in the brain? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | false | [
"Claude Pajon (1626 – September 27, 1685) was a 17th-century French theologian. He followed the teachings of John Cameron which was at odds with the dominant Calvinist views which led to the \"Pajonist controversy\" in 1668.\n\nAfter studying at Blois under Paul Testard, he was declared for the ministry on 25 August 1650. He was soon appointed to be pastor at Marchenoir.\n\nHe studied at the University of Saumur, where in 1666 he was hired as a professor of theology. Two years later, however, in 1668, Pajon was forced to resign from the position following the so-called \"Pajonist controversy\" surrounding his views on salvation. Pajon had disseminated a manuscript expounding his radical view that the Holy Spirit operates on human intellect and reason through the Word of God, a view which was seen as contrary to the University's prevailing Calvinist doctrine. Following his resignation, Pajon became a pastor at Orléans. In 1677, his unorthodox views led to accusations that he was an Arminianist and a Pelagianist. He died on September 27, 1685, in Carré, near Orléans.\n\nReferences\n\n17th-century French Catholic theologians\n1626 births\n1685 deaths",
"The Bangorian Controversy was a theological argument within the Church of England in the early 18th century, with strong political overtones. The origins of the controversy lay in the 1716 posthumous publication of George Hickes's Constitution of the Catholic Church, and the Nature and Consequences of Schism. In it, Hickes, as Bishop of Thetford, on behalf of the minority non-juror faction that had broken away from the Church of England after the Glorious Revolution, excommunicated all but the non-juror churchmen. Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, wrote a reply, Preservative against the Principles and Practices of Non-Jurors; his own Erastian position was sincerely proposed as the only test of truth.\n\nThe controversy itself began very visibly and vocally when Hoadly delivered a sermon on 31 March 1717 to George I of Great Britain on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ. His text was John 18:36, \"My kingdom is not of this world\" and from that, Hoadly deduced, supposedly at the request of the king himself, that there is no Biblical justification for any church government of any sort. He identified the church with the Kingdom of Heaven. It was therefore not of this world, and Christ had not delegated His authority to any representatives.\n\nBackground\n\nTwo competing visions of government were in play. On the one hand, there was a vision of God appointing the king and the bishops to be leaders, selecting them from all others and imbuing them with special characters, either through grace or in creation. That view held that the king, as the head of the Established Church, was not only a secular leader of a state but also a religious primate. Power and regulation flowed downward from God to the people. That was the aristocratic model that was favoured by the Tory party and had been used to propose the divine right of kings.\n\nThe other view was that power flowed up from the people to the leaders, that leaders were no more intrinsically better than those led, and God gives out revelation freely. That Whig view was also the view of the Puritans and the \"Independents\" (the various Congregational and Baptist churches, Quakers etc.).\n\nGeorge I favoured the Whigs in Parliament and favoured a latitudinarian ecclesiastical policy in general. That was probably not by any desire to give up royal prerogative but to break the power of the aristocracy and the House of Lords. A significant obstacle to all kings of England had been the presence of bishops in the Lords. While a king could create peers, it was much more difficult for him to move bishops into and out of the Lords.\n\nSermon and aftermath\nThe sermon was immediately published and instantly drew counterattacks. William Law (Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor) and Thomas Sherlock (dean of Chichester), in particular, gave vigorous defences of church polity. Hoadly himself wrote A Reply to the Representations of Convocation to answer Sherlock, Andrew Snape, provost of Eton, and Francis Hare, then dean of Worcester. The three men, and another opponent, Robert Moss, dean of Ely, were deprived of their royal chaplaincies by the king. Hoadly did not, however, attempt to answer William Law. It has been claimed that in all, over 200 pamphlets linked to the controversy were published by 53 writers. Of those, 74 were published in July 1717.\n\nIn May 1717, the Convocation appointed a committee to study the sermon. When the report was ready for synodal sanction against Hoadly, the king dismissed the convocation, which did not meet again for over 130 years.\n\nTimeline of publications\n\nSee also\n 1716 in literature\n 1717 in literature\n 1718 in literature\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\nCross, F. A., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 1964. London: Oxford University Press.\n\nChurch of England and the Bangorian controversy, 1716–1721. Andrew Starkie: 2007: Boydell Press.\n\n18th-century controversies\nHistory of the Church of England\n18th century in England\nProtestantism-related controversies\n1717 in Christianity\n18th-century Protestantism"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes.",
"Did he hae another motion in mind?",
"he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.",
"Why did he believe that?",
"His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain.",
"Was there any controversy on his view?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 5 | Besides Havelock Ellis' opposition to sterilization, Havelock Ellis' belief that the removal of the sexual glands could greatly injure the patient, and Havelock Ellis' view that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather sexual impulses persist in the brain, are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | 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"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes.",
"Did he hae another motion in mind?",
"he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.",
"Why did he believe that?",
"His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain.",
"Was there any controversy on his view?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | What form of birth control did he support? | 6 | What form of birth control did Havelock Ellis support? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | true | [
"Birth Control Review was a lay magazine established and edited by Margaret Sanger in 1917, three years after her friend, Otto Bobsein, coined the term \"birth control\" to describe voluntary motherhood or the ability of a woman to space children \"in keeping with a family's financial and health resources.\". Sanger published the first issue while imprisoned with Ethel Byrne, her sister, and Fannie Mindell for giving contraceptives and instruction to poor women at the Brownsville Clinic in New York. Sanger remained editor-in-chief until 1928, when she turned it over to the American Birth Control League. The last issue was published in January 1940.\n\nHistory\nIn October 1916 Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic in Brownsville, New York. Sanger was arrested twice while in operation for the illegal distribution of contraceptives and for being a public nuisance. Sanger was charged with 30 days in jail where she began publishing the Birth Control Review (1917). The predecessor to the Birth Control Review was Sanger’s previous publication titled “Woman Rebel,” a seven issue periodical running March- October 1914. This journal was the first to publish the term “birth control” in print (coined by Otto Bobsien). This would subsequently lead to the Sanger use of the term to mobilize the Birth Control movement of the 20th century.\nSanger’s brief stay in prison and its surrounding publicity launched her into martyrdom and sparked a revitalized interest in the birth control moment earning her numerous donors to support her periodical. Sanger remained editor-in-chief until 1928 when she stepped down and the American Birth Control League took over.\n\nContent\nThe main goal of the Review was to increase public support for birth control by attracting the support of doctors, legislators, academics, and the middle class and wealthy society women. The BCR urged its readers join groups such as American Birth Control League (which spanned 10 different branches and later became Planned Parenthood).\nContent included news of birth control activities, articles by scholars, activists, and writers on birth control, and reviews of books and other publications. The Review also included art and fiction in the form of cartoons, poetry and short stories as well as, case studies and first hand account/testimonies from women, often lower class persons of color.\n\nCirculation\nThe Comstock Act of 1873 made mailing information about birth control and contraceptives illegal. Fourteen states prohibited the verbal transmission of information about contraception or abortion, while eleven others made possession of instructions for the prevention of pregnancy a criminal offense.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nFurther reading \nRachel Schreiber. “’Breed!’: the graphic satire of the Birth Control Review, in eds. Tormey and Whiteley, Art, Politics and the Pamphleteer (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 256-273.\nLifestyle magazines published in the United States\nDefunct women's magazines published in the United States\nEnglish-language magazines\nHealth magazines\nMagazines established in 1917\nMagazines disestablished in 1940\nMagazines published in New York (state)\nParenting magazines",
"Birth control is a means of preventing pregnancy or birth.\n\nBirth control may also refer to:\nCombined oral contraceptive pill, the oldest and most popular form of hormonal birth control\nBirth Control (band), a German rock band\nBirth Control (film)"
]
|
[
"Havelock Ellis",
"Views on sterilization",
"Was he for or against sterilization?",
"Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes.",
"Did he hae another motion in mind?",
"he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.",
"Why did he believe that?",
"His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain.",
"Was there any controversy on his view?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene.",
"What form of birth control did he support?",
"For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit."
]
| C_55326ebad6b0415ea8430f68d8c986f4_0 | How was one deemed unfit? | 7 | How was a patient deemed mentally unfit by Havelock Ellis? | Havelock Ellis | Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and pedophiles were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient. However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favorable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts. Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people...but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?" CANNOTANSWER | could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. | Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He supported eugenics and served as one of 16 vice-presidents of the Eugenics Society from 1909 to 1912.
Early life and career
Ellis, son of Edward Peppen Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London). He had four sisters, none of whom married. His father was a sea captain, his mother the daughter of a sea captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. When he was seven his father took him on one of his voyages, during which they called at Sydney, Australia; Callao, Peru; and Antwerp, Belgium. After his return, Ellis attended the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterward attended a school in Mitcham.
In April 1875, Ellis sailed on his father's ship for Australia; soon after his arrival in Sydney, he obtained a position as a master at a private school. After the discovery of his lack of training, he was fired and became a tutor for a family living a few miles from Carcoar, New South Wales. He spent a year there and then obtained a position as a master at a grammar school in Grafton, New South Wales. The headmaster had died and Ellis carried on at the school for that year, but was unsuccessful.
At the end of the year, he returned to Sydney and, after three months' training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek, near Scone, New South Wales, and the other at Junction Creek. He lived at the school house on Sparkes Creek for a year. He wrote in his autobiography, "In Australia, I gained health of body, I attained peace of soul, my life task was revealed to me, I was able to decide on a professional vocation, I became an artist in literature; these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range."
Medicine and psychology
Ellis returned to England in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his first step must be to qualify as a physician. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London, but never had a regular medical practice. His training was aided by a small legacy and also income earned from editing works in the Mermaid Series of lesser known Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined The Fellowship of the New Life in 1883, meeting other social reformers Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
The 1897 English translation of Ellis's book Sexual Inversion, co-authored with John Addington Symonds and originally published in German in 1896, was the first English medical textbook on homosexuality. It describes male homosexual relations as well as adolescent rape. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality, as he did not characterise it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos as well as gender taboos. The first edition of the book was bought-out by the executor of Symond's estate, who forbade any mention of Symonds in the second edition.
In 1897 a bookseller was prosecuted for stocking Ellis's book. Although the term homosexual is attributed to Ellis, he wrote in 1897, "'Homosexual' is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it." In fact, the word homosexual was coined in 1868 by the Hungarian author Karl-Maria Kertbeny.
Ellis may have developed psychological concepts of autoerotism and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud. Ellis's influence may have reached Radclyffe Hall, who would have been about 17 years old at the time Sexual Inversion was published. She later referred to herself as a sexual invert and wrote of female "sexual inverts" in Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself and The Well of Loneliness. When Ellis bowed out as the star witness in the trial of The Well of Loneliness on 14 May 1928, Norman Haire was set to replace him but no witnesses were called.
Eonism
Ellis studied what today are called transgender phenomena. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld, Havelock Ellis is considered a major figure in the history of sexology to establish a new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term sexo-aesthetic inversion to describe the phenomenon. In 1920 he coined the term eonism, which he derived from the name of a historical figure, the Chevalier d'Éon. Ellis explained:
Ellis found eonism to be "a remarkably common anomaly", and "next in frequency to homosexuality among sexual deviations", and categorized it as "among the transitional or intermediate forms of sexuality". As in the Freudian tradition, Ellis postulated that a "too close attachment to the mother" may encourage eonism, but also considered that it "probably invokes some defective endocrine balance".
Marriage
In November 1891, at the age of 32, and reportedly still a virgin, Ellis married the English writer and proponent of women's rights Edith Lees. From the beginning, their marriage was unconventional, as Edith Lees was openly lesbian. At the end of the honeymoon, Ellis went back to his bachelor rooms in Paddington. She lived at Fellowship House. Their "open marriage" was the central subject in Ellis's autobiography, My Life. Ellis reportedly had an affair with Margaret Sanger.
According to Ellis in My Life, his friends were much amused at his being considered an expert on sex. Some knew that he reportedly suffered from impotence until the age of 60. He then discovered that he could become aroused by the sight of a woman urinating. Ellis named this "undinism". After his wife died, Ellis formed a relationship with a French woman, Françoise Lafitte.
Eugenics
Ellis was a supporter of eugenics. He served as vice-president to the Eugenics Education Society and wrote on the subject, among others, in The Task of Social Hygiene:
In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. In his work, Sexual Inversions, where Ellis presented numerous cases of homosexuality in Britain, he was always careful to mention the race of the subject and the health of the person's 'stock', which included their neuropathic conditions and the health of their parents. However, Ellis was clear to assert that he did not feel that homosexuality was an issue that eugenics needed to actively deal with, as he felt that once the practice was accepted in society, those with homosexual tendencies would comfortably choose not to marry, and thus would cease to pass the 'homosexual heredity' along.
In a debate in the Sociological Society, Ellis corresponded with noted eugenicist Francis Galton, who was presenting a paper in support of marriage restrictions. While Galton analogized eugenics to breeding domesticated animals, Ellis felt that a greater sense of caution was needed before applying the eugenic regulations to populations, as "we have scarcely yet realized how subtle and far-reaching hereditary influences are." Instead, because unlike domesticated animals, humans were in charge of who they mated with, Ellis argued that a greater emphasis was needed on public education about how vital this issue was. Ellis thus held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, Ellis also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading ideas that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis believed that those who should not procreate should still be able to gain all the other benefits of marriage, and to not allow that was an intolerable burden. This, in his mind, was what led to eugenics being "misunderstood, ridiculed, and regarded as a fad".
Throughout his life, Ellis was both a member and later a council member of the Eugenics Society. Moreover, he played a role on the General Committee of the First International Eugenics Congress.
Sexual impulse in youth
Ellis' 1933 book, Psychology of Sex, is one of the many manifestations of his interest in human sexuality. In this book, he goes into vivid detail of how children can experience sexuality differently in terms of time and intensity. He mentions that it was previously believed that, in childhood, humans had no sex impulse at all. "If it is possible to maintain that the sex impulse has no normal existence in early life, then every manifestation of it at that period must be 'perverse, he adds. He continues by stating that, even in the early development and lower function levels of the genitalia, there is a wide range of variation in terms of sexual stimulation. He claims that the ability of some infants producing genital reactions, seen as "reflex signs of irritation" are typically not vividly remembered. Since the details of these manifestations are not remembered, there is no possible way to determine them as pleasurable. However, Ellis claims that many people of both sexes can recall having agreeable sensations with the genitalia as a child. "They are not (as is sometimes imagined) repressed." They are, however, not usually mentioned to adults. Ellis argues that they typically stand out and are remembered for the sole contrast of the intense encounter to any other ordinary experience.
Ellis claims that sexual self-excitement is known to happen at an early age. He references authors like Marc, Fonssagrives, and Perez in France who published their findings in the nineteenth century. These early ages are not strictly limited to ages close to puberty as can be seen in their findings. These authors provide cases for children of both sexes who have masturbated from the age of three or four. Ellis references Robie's findings that boys' first sex feelings appear between the ages of five and fourteen. For girls, this age ranges from eight to nineteen. For both sexes, these first sexual experiences arise more frequently during the later years as opposed to the earlier years. Ellis then references G.V. Hamilton's studies that found twenty percent of males and fourteen percent of females have pleasurable experiences with their sex organs before the age of six. This is only supplemented by Ellis' reference to Katharine Davis' studies, which found that twenty to twenty-nine percent of boys and forty-nine to fifty-one percent of girls were masturbating by the age of eleven. However, in the next three years after, boys' percentages exceeded those of girls.
Ellis also contributed to the idea of varying levels of sexual excitation. He asserts it is a mistake to assume all children are able to experience genital arousal or pleasurable erotic sensations. He proposes cases where an innocent child is led to believe that stimulation of the genitalia will result in a pleasurable erection. Some of these children may fail and not be able to experience this either pleasure or an erection until puberty. Ellis concludes, then, that children are capable of a "wide range of genital and sexual aptitude". Ellis even considers ancestry as contributions to different sexual excitation levels, stating that children of "more unsound heredity" and/or hypersexual parents are "more precociously excitable".
Auto-eroticism
Ellis' views of auto-eroticism were very comprehensive, including much more than masturbation. Auto-eroticism, according to Ellis, includes a wide range of phenomena. Ellis states in his 1897 book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, that auto-eroticism ranges from erotic day-dreams, marked by a passivity shown by the subject, to "unshamed efforts at sexual self-manipulation witnessed among the insane".
Ellis also argues that auto-erotic impulses can be heightened by bodily processes like menstrual flow. During this time, he says, women, who would otherwise not feel a strong propensity for auto-eroticism, increase their masturbation patterns. This trend is absent, however, in women without a conscious acceptance of their sexual feelings and in a small percentage of women suffering from a sexual or general ailment which result in a significant amount of "sexual anesthesia".
Ellis also raises social concern over how auto-erotic tendencies affect marriages. He goes on to tying auto-eroticism to declining marriage rates. As these rates decline, he concludes that auto-eroticism will only increase in both amount and intensity for both men and women. Therefore, he states, this is an important issue to both the moralist and physician to investigate psychological underpinnings of these experiences and determine an attitude toward them.
Smell
Ellis believed that the sense of smell, although ineffective at long ranges, still contributes to sexual attraction, and therefore, to mate selection. In his 1905 book, Sexual selection in man, Ellis makes a claim for the sense of smell in the role of sexual selection. He asserts that while we have evolved out of a great necessity for the sense of smell, we still rely on our sense of smell with sexual selection. The contributions that smell makes in sexual attraction can even be heightened with certain climates. Ellis states that with warmer climates come a heightened sensitivity to sexual and other positive feelings of smell among normal populations. Because of this, he believes people are often delighted by odors in the East, particularly in India, in "Hebrew and Mohammedan lands". Ellis then continues by describing the distinct odours in various races, noting that the Japanese race has the least intense of bodily odours. Ellis concludes his argument by stating, "On the whole, it may be said that in the usual life of man odours play a not inconsiderable part and raise problems which are not without interest, but that their demonstrable part in actual sexual selection is comparatively small."
Views on women and birth control
Ellis favoured feminism from a eugenic perspective, feeling that the enhanced social, economic, and sexual choices that feminism provided for women would result in women choosing partners who were more eugenically sound. In his view, intelligent women would not choose, nor be forced to marry and procreate with feeble-minded men.
Ellis viewed birth control as merely the continuation of an evolutionary progression, noting that natural progress has always consisted of increasing impediments to reproduction, which lead to a lower quantity of offspring, but a much higher quality of them. From a eugenic perspective, birth control was an invaluable instrument for the elevation of the race. However, Ellis noted that birth control could not be used randomly in a way that could have a detrimental impact by reducing conception, but rather needed to be used in a targeted manner to improve the qualities of certain 'stocks'. He observed that it was unfortunately the 'superior stocks' who had knowledge of and used birth control while the 'inferior stocks' propagated without checks. Ellis' solution to this was a focus on contraceptives in education, as this would disseminate the knowledge in the populations that he felt needed them the most. Ellis argued that birth control was the only available way of making eugenic selection practicable, as the only other option was wide-scale abstention from intercourse for those who were 'unfit'.
Views on sterilization
Ellis was strongly opposed to the idea of castration for eugenic purposes. In 1909, regulations were introduced at the Cantonal Asylum in Bern, which allowed those deemed 'unfit' and with strong sexual inclinations to be mandatorily sterilized. In a particular instance, several men and women, including epileptics and paedophiles, were castrated, some of whom voluntarily requested it. While the results were positive, in that none of the subjects were found guilty of any more sexual offences, Ellis remained staunchly opposed to the practice. His view on the origin of these inclinations was that sexual impulses do not reside in the sexual organs, but rather they persist in the brain. Moreover, he posited that the sexual glands provided an important source of internal secretions vital for the functioning of the organism, and thus their removal could greatly injure the patient.
However, already in his time, Ellis was witness to the rise of vasectomies and ligatures of the Fallopian tubes, which performed the same sterilization without removing the whole organ. In these cases, Ellis was much more favourable, yet still maintaining that "sterilization of the unfit, if it is to be a practical and humane measure commanding general approval, must be voluntary on the part of the person undergoing it, and never compulsory." His opposition to such a system was not only rooted in morality. Rather, Ellis also considered the practicality of the situation, hypothesizing that if an already mentally unfit man is forced to undergo sterilization, he would only become more ill-balanced, and would end up committing more anti-social acts.
Though Ellis was never at ease with the idea of forced sterilizations, he was willing to find ways to circumvent that restriction. His focus was on the social ends of eugenics, and as a means to it, Ellis was in no way against 'persuading' 'volunteers' to undergo sterilization by withdrawing Poor Relief from them. While he preferred to convince those he deemed unfit using education, Ellis supported coercion as a tool. Furthermore, he supported adding ideas about eugenics and birth control to the education system in order to restructure society, and to promote social hygiene. For Ellis, sterilization seemed to be the only eugenic instrument that could be used on the mentally unfit. In fact, in his publication The Sterilization of the Unfit, Ellis argued that even institutionalization could not guarantee the complete prevention of procreation between the unfit, and thus, "the burdens of society, to say nothing of the race, are being multiplied. It is not possible to view sterilization with enthusiasm when applied to any class of people…but what, I ask myself, is the practical alternative?"
Psychedelics
Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and the author of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. He consumed a brew made of 3 Echinocacti (peyote) in the afternoon of Good Friday alone in his apartment in Temple, London. During the experience, lasting for about 24 hours, he noted a plethora of extremely vivid, complex, colourful, pleasantly smelling hallucinations, consisting both of abstract geometrical patterns and definite objects such as butterflies and other insects. He published the account of the experience in The Contemporary Review in 1898 (Mescal: A New Artificial Paradise). The title of the article alludes to an earlier work on the effects of mind-altering substances, an 1860 book Les Paradis artificiels by French poet Charles Baudelaire (containing descriptions of experiments with opium and hashish).
Ellis was so impressed with the aesthetic quality of the experience that he gave some specimens of peyote to the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation of which another mescaline researcher, Aleister Crowley, was also a member.
Later life and death
Ellis resigned from his position of Fellow of the Eugenics Society over their stance on sterilization in January 1931.
Ellis spent the last year of his life at Hintlesham, Suffolk, where he died in July 1939. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, in North London.
Works
The Criminal (1890)
The New Spirit (1890)
The Nationalisation of Health (1892)
Man and Woman: A Study of Secondary and Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (1894) (revised 1929)
translator: Germinal (by Zola) (1895) (reissued 1933)
with J.A. Symonds
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897–1928) six volumes (listed below)
Affirmations (1898)
The Nineteenth Century (1900)
A Study of British Genius (1904)
The Soul of Spain (1908)
The Problem of Race-Regeneration (1911)
The World of Dreams (1911) (new edition 1926)
The Task of Social Hygiene (1912)
The Philosophy of Conflict (1919)
On Life and Sex: Essays of Love and Virtue (1921)
Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925)
Eonism and Other Supplementary Studies (1928)
Studies in the Psychology of Sex Vol. 7 (1928)
The Art of Life (1929) (selected and arranged by Mrs. S. Herbert)
More Essays of Love and Virtue (1931)
ed.: James Hinton: Life in Nature (1931)
ed.: Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, by Walter Savage Landor (1933)
Chapman (1934)
My Confessional (1934)
Questions of Our Day (1934)
From Rousseau to Proust (1935)
Selected Essays (1936)
Poems (1937) (selected by John Gawsworth; pseudonym of T. Fytton Armstrong)
Love and Marriage (1938) (with others)
Sex Compatibility in Marriage (1939)
From Marlowe to Shaw (1950) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Genius of Europe (1950)
Sex and Marriage (1951) (ed. by J. Gawsworth)
The Unpublished Letters of Havelock Ellis to Joseph Ishill (1954)
References
Bibliography
Further reading
(U.S. title)
External links
Havelock Ellis papers (MS 195). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
Henry Havelock Ellis papers from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
1859 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
British sexologists
English eugenicists
English psychologists
People from Croydon
Psychedelic drug advocates
British relationships and sexuality writers
Medical writers on LGBT topics
British social reformers
Transgender studies academics
Victorian writers
Translators of Émile Zola | true | [
"Garda Colm Horkan was a detective in the Garda Síochána, the national police service of Ireland, who was shot dead by a 43-year-old man in Castlerea, County Roscommon, Ireland on 17 June 2020, while on an anti-crime patrol.\n\nPersonal life\nColm Horkan was born on 13 December 1970 in Charlestown, County Mayo to parents Dolores and Marty. He grew up with his four brothers – Aidan, Brendan, Dermot and Pádraic, and two sisters - Deirdre and Collette. Horkan was a former Charlestown Sarsfields GAA footballer and joined the Garda Síochána in 1994. He attended the Garda Síochána College in Templemore, County Tipperary, the same time as Adrian Donohoe who was later shot dead in 2013 in a Credit Union robbery in County Louth, becoming the 87th garda to be killed in the line of duty.\n\nIncident\nAccording to contemporary media reports, on Wednesday, 17 June 2020 at 11:45 pm, Horkan was on an anti-crime patrol by himself in Castlerea, County Roscommon and stopped a man after receiving a report of someone speeding and driving recklessly on a motorcycle in the town's Main Street. Horkan stopped a male on a motorcycle matching the description provided to Gardaí by the public, and as he was speaking to him, the perpetrator reached for Horkan's issued firearm, and after a short struggle the man managed to get hold of Horkan's official SIG Sauer handgun and fired fifteen rounds, hitting him six times in the chest and neck. The other nine rounds went through a bank and shop window in the town centre. At around midnight, Gardaí rushed to the scene after hearing the gunshots from Castlerea Garda Station – just five minutes away from the scene. The Armed Support Unit arrived at the scene after Horkan pressed his panic button on his radio for emergency backup prior to the shooting. He was later pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene becoming the 89th garda to be killed in the line of duty. The suspect made no attempt to flee the scene and was arrested minutes later.\n\nAftermath\nThe day after the incident on 18 June 2020, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Michael D. Higgins paid tribute to Horkan. Hundreds of people attended a vigil for Horkan in Castlerea, County Roscommon to pay their respects. A small marquee was set up on the street where the incident occurred and tributes were led by local Fianna Fáil councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice. On 20 June 2020, the President Michael D. Higgins led a memorial service on the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin. On 21 June 2020, a state funeral was held in St James's Church in his hometown of Charlestown, County Mayo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, social distancing protocols meant the numbers in the church were limited to Horkan's immediate family along with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and the Minister for Justice and Equality Charles Flanagan. Dáil Éireann and garda stations around Ireland marked a minute's silence to remember Horkan. The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar marked the minute silence at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park. At Áras an Uachtaráin, the president attended a ringing the Peace Bell and raised the Irish flag at half-mast as a mark of respect to Horkan.\n\nOn 5 September, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee honoured and reflected on the loss of Horkan as she marked National Services Day 2020.\n\nAlleged perpetrator\nStephen Silver, a 43-year-old man living in Foxford, County Mayo, but originally from County Roscommon, was reportedly arrested at the scene by Garda Helen Gillen and was brought to Castlerea Garda Station. He appeared at Harristown District Court and was charged with the murder of Horkan on 19 June 2020. Silver was first remanded in custody to Castlerea Prison on 19 June and was then transferred to the Midlands Prison.\n\nCourt\nSilver was repeatedly deemed unfit to attend court at Harristown District Court in Roscommon via video link due to mental health issues. In February 2021, the Castlerea District Court deemed Silver to be fit for trial after having subsequently been deemed unfit for trial on seven occasions. On 23 March 2021, it was announced that Silver would go on trial at the Central Criminal Court on 15 June 2022.\n\nTimeline\n 26 June 2020 – Silver was due to appear in court via video link on 26 June 2020 but was deemed unfit to appear for the first time. He was due to appear in court again via video link on 10 July 2020.\n 10 July 2020\nIt was revealed by Silver's solicitor Gearoid Geraghty that he was medically unwell and was unable to attend court for another two weeks.\nSilver was being detained at the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin, where he was receiving ongoing psychiatric treatment. He was due to appear in court again on 24 July.\n 24 July 2020 – It was announced that Silver's health is expected to gradually improve during the next two months and was still unable to attend court. He was due to appear in court for the third time on 7 August.\n 7 August 2020\nDefence solicitor Martina Moran of Gearoid Geraghty & Company said that Silver was still receiving treatment at the Central Mental Hospital.\nIt was now the fourth time Silver has been deemed unfit to appear by video link at Harristown District Court. He was due to appear in court via video link again on 21 August.\n 21 August 2020\nSilver was deemed medically unfit to attend court for the fifth time and remained at the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.\nIt was reported that the extent of the investigation involves 200 statements, 250 exhibits and 70 segments of CCTV footage, while gardaí made inquiries with a witness in Australia.\nHe was due to appear in court via video link again on 4 September.\n 4 September\nSilver was deemed medically unfit to attend court for the sixth time and remained at the Central Mental Hospital.\nHarristown Court was informed that the file into the killing of Detective Garda Colm Horkan was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.\nHe was due to appear in court via video link again on 18 September.\n 18 September\nSilver was deemed medically unfit to attend court for the seventh time and remained at the Central Mental Hospital.\nFurther details of the extent of the investigation were outlined at Harristown District Court when a defence solicitor questioned the length of time it was taking for the file to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.\nGardaí carried out over 350 house-to-house enquiries, taken over 200 written statements and viewed 70 pieces of CCTV footage.\nHe was due to appear in court via video link again on 7 October.\n 23 October\nSilver was deemed medically unfit to attend court for the tenth time and remained at the Central Mental Hospital.\nA court heard that the case of Silver accused of murdering Detective Garda Horkan should proceed without the accused being present.\nHe was due to appear in court via video link again on 6 November.\n 6 November\nFurther charges were considered against Silver as he was deemed medically unfit to attend court for the eleventh time and remained at the Central Mental Hospital.\nHe was due to appear in court via video link again on 20 November.\n 27 November – Silver appeared at Castlerea District Court where he was charged with the capital murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan, and was remanded in custody to the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise to appear via video link before Harristown District Court on 4 December.\n 19 February 2021 – Silver was sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court charged with the murder of Horkan.\n 23 March 2021 – It was announced that Silver would go on trial at the Central Criminal Court on 15 June 2022.\n\nSee also\n List of Gardaí killed in the line of duty\n Shooting of Adrian Donohoe\n Death of George Nkencho\n\nReferences\n\n2020 deaths\n\nGarda Síochána officers killed in the line of duty\nDeaths by firearm in the Republic of Ireland\nDeaths by person in the Republic of Ireland\n2020 murders in Europe\nState funerals",
"The Timber and Stone Act of 1878 in the United States sold Western timberland for $2.50 per acre ($618/km2) in 160 acre (0.6 km2) blocks.\n\nLand that was deemed \"unfit for farming\" was sold to those who might want to \"timber and stone\" (logging and mining) upon the land. The act was used by speculators who were able to get great expanses declared \"unfit for farming\" allowing them to increase their land holdings at minimal expense.\n\nIn theory the purchaser was to make an affidavit that he was entering the land exclusively for his own use and that no association was to hold more than . In practice however, many wealthy companies and individuals seeking to access natural resources fraudulently circumvented the law by hiring individuals to purchase lots that were then deeded to the company in direct violation of the law. In this way, more than 90 percent of the several million acres of timberland privatized under the Act in Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California were fraudulently compiled. Ultimately, said companies were able to obtain title up to .\n\nSee also\nDesert Land Act\nHomestead Act\n\nReferences\n\nUnited States federal public land legislation\n1878 in law\n1878 in the United States"
]
|
[
"Zheng He",
"Imperial China"
]
| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | What did Zheng do in China | 1 | What did Zheng do in Imperial China? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | true | [
"Zheng Lücheng (; , Kwangju; 13 August 1918 – 7 December 1976) was a Korea-born Chinese composer of Korean ethnicity. He is most notable for having composed the music to the Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army, to words by Gong Mu (公木; real name: Zhang Yongnian; ).\n\nEarly life\nZheng was born Cheong Bu-eun (정부은, 鄭富恩) in the South Jeolla Province of what is now South Korea in either 1914 or 1918. Official records show his year of birth at 1918, but it is believed he may have concealed his age to maintain cover as an agent in Nanjing.\n\nIn 1933, Zheng moved to Nanjing, China, where he became associated with the Korean-Chinese anti-Japanese invasion movement and then with the communists.\n\nCareer\n\nIn 1937, in Yan'an, Zheng composed the song which was to become the military anthem of the People's Liberation Army.\n\nIn 1945, Zheng returned to Korea or, precisely, North Korea, where he worked as chief of the North Korean army's band and taught music at Pyongyang University. Zheng wrote the anthem of the North Korean Army, Tumen River, East Sea Fisherman and other songs. After the outbreak of Korean War, Zheng returned to China, where he composed many works including a Chinese-language Western-style opera, Cloud Gazing based on a story of the Bai people.\n\nPersonal life\nZheng's wife was China's first female ambassador, Ding Xuesong.\n\nIn 1950, when the Korean War broke out, Zhou Enlai — having been petitioned by Zheng's Chinese wife, Ding Xuesong — personally wrote to Kim Il Sung requesting that Zheng returns to China for work. Kim agreed; and, in 1950, Zheng obtained Chinese nationality.\n\nReferences\n\nPeople's Republic of China composers\nChinese male classical composers\nChinese opera composers\nChinese people of Korean descent\nMale opera composers\n1918 births\n1976 deaths\nRepublic of China musicians\nKorean emigrants to China\nNaturalized citizens of the People's Republic of China\nPeople from South Jeolla Province\n20th-century composers\n20th-century Chinese musicians\n20th-century male musicians",
"Zheng Yonghui (; 1918 – 9 September 2012) was a Chinese writer (of Chinese Vietnamese ethnicity) and translator who won the Lu Xun Literary Prize, a prestigious literature award in China.\n\nZheng rendered a great number of French literary works into Chinese for almost five decades, including 40 novels.\n\nZheng is most notable for being one of the main translators into Chinese of the works of the French novelists Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.\n\nBiography\nZheng was born in Haiphong, French Indo-China in 1918, with his ancestral home in Zhongshan, Guangdong.\n\nZheng graduated from Aurora University in 1942, majoring in law at the Department of Law, and taught there when graduated.\n\nZheng started to publish works in 1983 and joined the China Writers Association in 1980.\n\nIn 1987, Zheng was sent abroad to study at the expense of the government.\n\nZheng died in Beijing in 2012.\n\nWorks\n The Complete Works of Balzac ()\n La Peau de chagrin (Honoré de Balzac) ()\n (Balzac) ()\n (Alexandre Dumas) ()\n Our Love (Alexandre Dumas) ()\n (André Gide) ()\n The Short Stories of Prosper Merimee (Prosper Merimee) ()\n (George Sand) ()\n Nana (Emile Zola) ()\n Ninety-Three (Victor Hugo) ()\n (Victor Hugo) ()\n\nAwards\n Lu Xun Literary Prize (1998)\n Chinese Translation Association – Competent Translator (2004)\n\nPersonal life\nZheng married Deng Huiqun (), the couple had a son, Zheng Ruolin (), who was a Chinese journalist in France.\n\nReferences\n\n1918 births\n2012 deaths\nPeople from Zhongshan\nAurora University alumni\nPeople's Republic of China translators\nFrench–Chinese translators\n20th-century Chinese translators\n21st-century Chinese translators\nVietnamese emigrants to China"
]
|
[
"Zheng He",
"Imperial China",
"What did Zheng do in China",
"Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled."
]
| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | why did they say he was not important | 2 | why did imperial Chinese officials say Zheng was not important? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | true | [
"Plautius Lateranus (executed AD 65) was a Roman senator of the first century.\n\nPlautius was the son of Quintus Plautius, consul in AD 36. He was nephew to Aulus Plautius, the man who led the Invasion of Britain in 43 AD, and it was through his good offices that Plautius Lateranus escaped the death penalty in AD 48, after his affair with the emperor Claudius' wife Messalina was discovered. Fortunately, Claudius held Aulus Plautius in high esteem. Though he escaped death, he was removed from his senatorial position, but was later granted re-admittance under Nero.\n\nIn AD 65, Plautius Lateranus, who was then consul designatus, was accused of being a participant of the Pisonian conspiracy. Tacitus says that Lateranus joined from no personal grudge against Nero, but out of patriotism alone. His part in the plot was as follows: He was to prostrate himself before Nero, in a pretense of petitioning for financial assistance; then, being both 'resolute and muscular', he was to bring him down and hold him, allowing others of a military nature involved in the plot to kill him. When the plot was exposed, Nero had Plautius executed. Tacitus states that his 'removal' was so hasty that he was not permitted to say goodbye to his children, nor to choose the manner of his death. He was taken to a 'place reserved for slave executions', and died in resolute silence. The man who executed him, Statius Proxumus, was also involved in the plot, but Lateranus did not expose him.\n\nThough Tacitus doesn't state the means of execution, Epictetus in his Stoic Discourses makes it clear that he was beheaded. Epictetus asks his students why they shouldn't accept death; why they should fear dying alone. Why don't they hold out their necks in \"the way Lateranus did at Rome, when condemned by Nero to be beheaded? He held out his neck willingly to take the blow–but the blow was deficient, so he recoiled a bit, but then had enough self-command to offer his neck a second time.\"\n\nHis home was the Domus Lateranus, later called the Lateran Palace in Rome.\n\nReferences\n\n65 deaths\n1st-century deaths\n1st-century Romans\nMembers of the Pisonian conspiracy\nLateranus\nRoman consuls designate\nYear of birth unknown\nLovers of Roman royalty",
"John 1:25 is the twenty-fifth verse in the first chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.\n\nContent\nIn the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort for this verse is:\nΚαὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν, καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ, Τί οὖν βαπτίζεις, εἰ σὺ οὐκ εἶ ὁ Χριστός, οὔτε Ἠλίας, οὔτε ὁ προφήτης; \n\nIn the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:\nAnd they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?\n\nThe New International Version translates the passage as:\nThey questioned him, \"Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?\"\n\nAnalysis\nThe scribes and Pharisees challenge John, asking by what authority does he baptize publicly, and how does he act with authority so that the people flock to him, and were subject to a baptism of Penance? MacEvilly notes that this they thought as being particularly daring on the part of John, since he denied being a prophet; for the prophets foretold that when Christ would come, baptism was to be administered to the people (Ezech. 36:25; Zach. 13:1). And the Pharisees who were learned in the law, knew this. They supposed that such a baptism could only be done by the Messiah or by his accompanying prophet.\n\nCommentary from the Church Fathers\nOrigen: \"The questions of the priests and Levites being answered, another mission comes from the Pharisees: And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. So far as it is allowable to form a conjecture from the discourse itself here, I should say that it was the third occasion of John’s giving his witness. Observe the mildness of the former question, so befitting the priestly and levitical character, Who art thou? There is nothing arrogant or disrespectful, but only what becomes true ministers of God. The Pharisees however, being a sectarian body, as their name implies, address the Baptist in an importunate and contumelious way. And they said, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, neither Elias, neither that Prophet? not caring about information, but only wishing to prevent him baptizing. Yet the very next thing they did, was to come to John’s baptism. The solution of this is, that they came not in faith, but hypocritically, because they feared the people.\"\n\nChrysostom: \"Or, those very same priests and Levites were of the Pharisees, and, because they could not undermine him by blandishments, began accusing, after they had compelled him to say what he was not. And they asked him, saying, Why baptizest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elias, neither that Prophet? As if it were an act of audacity in him to baptize, when he was neither the Christ, nor His precursor, nor His proclaimer, i. e. that Prophet.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOther translations of John 1:25 at BibleHub\n\n01:25"
]
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"Zheng He",
"Imperial China",
"What did Zheng do in China",
"Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled.",
"why did they say he was not important",
"State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages."
]
| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | why did it decline | 3 | why did Ming naval efforts decline after Zheng's voyages? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | false | [
"How Civilizations Die (And Why Islam Is Dying Too) is a book written by the author and economist David P. Goldman, published on September 19, 2011 by Regnery Publishing. It discusses the declining in birthrates of both Europe and Islamic nations. In his view the decline in birthrates leads to the passive attitude of Europe, and the aggressive and violent attitude of the Islamic world, not from a stand of power, but from a point of desperate action. Most of the book is based on articles he published under the pseudonym \"Spengler\" on the Asia Times newspaper.\n\nBook Structure\nThe book consists three parts:\n Part 1: The Decline of the East – on the declining birthrates of the Islamic world, Goldman deduces that the Islamic fundamentalist terrorism is motivated by the feeling that the Islamic world is on an edge of demographic collapse, which will lead to an economic, and cultural disaster in Islamic nations.\n Part 2: Theopolitics – the reasons behind the birthrates decline, such as Postnationalism.\n Part 3: Why It Won't be a Post-American World – Goldman remarks that United States is the only big nation which isn't facing a demographic collapse, and thus promises it stability and strength.\n\nReferences\n\n2011 books\nDemographic economic problems",
"\"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"
]
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"Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled.",
"why did they say he was not important",
"State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages.",
"why did it decline",
"The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions."
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| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | what land campaigns were there | 4 | what land campaigns were there that competed with funds necessary to continue Zheng He's naval expeditions? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | true | [
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| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | why were they fighting the mongolians | 5 | why were the Imperial Chinese fighting the mongolians? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | true | [
"Mongolians in the Czech Republic form one of the country's smaller ethnic groups. Although the workers from Mongolia comprised 3.6% of the foreign workforce , the group has grown over the last decade and numbered 10,236 men and women holding Mongolian nationality by June 2020. By 2011 they had declined both in numbers and in relative size to other foreign populations, having been surpassed by Russians and Moldovans. However, the group began to resume its growth after 2014 once again. Currently, a large group of Mongolians reside in the city of Ceska Lipa and its surrounding area.\n\nMigration history\nIn the 13th century, Mongol military detachments carried out plunder and scorched-earth operations in parts of what is now the Czech Republic. Nowadays, in 2005, only 1,900 Mongolians lived in the Czech Republic, according to the local police; by 31 March 2006, that figure had grown slightly to 2,607 individuals, including 2,051 workers and 213 businessmen. The following year would see significant growth in the Mongolian population, which nearly tripled to 7,515 individuals by June 2007. As of July 2008, an additional thirty to forty Mongolians were arriving in the Czech Republic for work every week, many via train. Their population had been expected to continue to grow at a rapid pace, since Mongolia, along with Vietnam, was chosen in 2008 as one of the nations to supply manpower to the Czech Republic to replace North Korean guest workers, whose visas were not renewed after international concern that their wages were being confiscated by the North Korean government and used to support their nuclear programme.\n\nHowever, at the beginning of 2009, the Czech government decided they would no longer grant employment visas to Mongolian or Vietnamese labourers, in response to an economic downturn which had left 380,000 Czech citizens jobless. Visa issuance officially halted on 1 April that year; the government stated it would resume at some unspecified future date. They also announced a plan to offer €500 and a free plane ticket back to Ulaanbaatar for any Mongolian workers in the Czech Republic who lost their jobs; a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry stated that the plan was intended to prevent unemployed foreign workers from remaining in the country illegally. From February-April, Mongolians formed 66% of the total 1,345 foreigners who took advantage of such offers from the Czech government. In May 2011, a group of ninety Mongolians sued the Czech government over the restricted access to work visas, and in particular for refusing to process their applications online through the Visapoint system.\n\nDemography and distribution\nAside from the community in Prague, there are also about 500 Mongolians employed at a steering wheel-cover firm in the South Moravian Region town of Blansko, and a few hundred more in Plzeň.\n\nIllegal migration\nMongolians make up one of the larger groups of illegal migrants detained at the border with Slovakia. Previously, Ukraine had been one of the main sources of illegal foreign workers for the Czech Republic, but many had moved on westward to other countries of the European Union, lured by higher wages; Mongolians have been one of the main groups which has replaced them. The Czech government are working with the Mongolian government in efforts to control the illegal migration, in a programme similar to those they already operated with the governments of Moldova, Armenia, and Ukraine, which combined education in the source country about the danger of abuse that foreign workers face, and increased enforcement in the destination country.\n\nThere are fifteen Czech work agencies with permits from the Czech government to import workers from Mongolia. However, only two such agencies have permits from the Mongolian government to recruit on their territory; many thus operate without authorisation. This lack of registration is the reason why Czech government figures consistently show a large number of migrants from Mongolia—such as a total of 2,000 in 2007—while Mongolian government statistics show just a small number of workers leaving their country with the Czech Republic as their destination.\n\nNotable individuals\nGombojavyn Ochirbat, former General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, lived in Prague for two years\n\nSee also\nPetra Hulova, a Czech writer who studied in Mongolia\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\nCzech-MongoliaBrno, Plzeň, and Prague\nMongolians in the Czech Republic: the Assisted Voluntary Return Programme, a photoset from Flickr user bjjs\n\nAsian diaspora in the Czech Republic\nEthnic groups in the Czech Republic\nCzech Republic",
"The Battle of Khalkhyn Temple (Mongolian: Халхын сүмийн мөргөлдөөн/Khalkhyn sümiin mörgöldöön; Chinese: Halhamiao Incident, 哈爾哈廟事件; Japanese ハルハ廟事件 Haruhabyō-jiken) of 1935 was one of the border conflicts between the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo which occurred from 1932 to 1939. The incident took place on the border of Manchukuo and Mongolia near the Buddhist temple of Khalkhyn (Temple of Khalkha), located northeast of Buir Lake in present-day Inner Mongolia, China. Scores of the cavalry of the Mongolian People's Army engaged with patrol units of the Manchukuo Imperial Army and Japanese soldiers.\n\nAttack\nOn 8 January 1935, a Mongolian cavalry unit consisting of 90 horsemen ambushed a Manchukuo Imperial Army (MIA) stationed around the vicinity of Khalkhyn Temple in disputed border territory.\n\nDuring the reconnaissance around midday a patrol of about 30 MIA soldiers overseen by several Japanese military advisors setting up base along the lines. An ambush then took place wiping out the entire patrol, killing 11 Manchukuo soldiers along with several Japanese advisors and volunteers.\n\nHowever the attack wasn't as swift as planned, at least 23 cavalrymen were gunned down by a machine-gun nest by the time they reached the patrol. As the Mongolians were charging at the defenders many of them were gunned down from Japanese machine gun-fire, resulting in dozens of deaths and at least 40 more were injured out of the 90 or so men. Among the dead was Bataar Enkhjargal, a noted and well respected Mongolian commander. But most of the cavalry managed to make it through the defense into the Manchukuoan base. After less than 30 minutes of fighting the imperial army broke apart and was forced to retreat, giving the Mongolians control of most of the present-day Outer Mongolia territory.\n\nA Soviet official claimed that 23 Mongolians were killed in the incident including the commander, but the Japanese put the number much higher (40 killed). The Japanese claimed to have lost one officer and several other soldiers in the fighting, while their puppet Manchukuo lost up-to 10 soldiers.\n\nReactions\nThis incident created great tension between Mongolia and Japan, with the death of a high ranked Japanese officer. This incident was the first of many Mongolian/Soviet-Japanese border conflicts.\n\nReferences\n\nKhalkhyn Temple\nJapan–Soviet Union relations\n1935 in Japan\n1935 in the Soviet Union\nKhalkhyn Temple\nKhalkhyn Temple\nMongolia–Soviet Union relations\n1935 in Mongolia\nKhalkhyn Temple\nJanuary 1935 events\nJapan–Mongolia relations\nSoviet–Japanese border conflicts"
]
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[
"Zheng He",
"Imperial China",
"What did Zheng do in China",
"Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled.",
"why did they say he was not important",
"State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages.",
"why did it decline",
"The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions.",
"what land campaigns were there",
"At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians.",
"why were they fighting the mongolians",
"Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north."
]
| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | what did the mongols want | 6 | what did the mongols want from China? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | false | [
"The Mongol invasions of Lithuania was an event where the Mongol armies invaded the territories of the Kingdom of Lithuania and later, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on several occasions in late 13th and early 14th century. The event was not very well documented, but historians knew also that despite occasional setbacks, which likely forced the Lithuanian state and its neighbors the Yotvingians to become client states of Mongols for a short period, the Lithuanians were able to take control of a number of formerly Mongol territories in the long run.\n\nLithuanian–Mongol conflict\nThe Lithuanians first made contact with the Mongols around 1237–1240, though for the next decade or two the Mongols did not consider Lithuanian-held territories a priority.\n\nThe first major incursion of Mongols from the Golden Horde under Burundai on the Lithuanian territories took place in winter of 1258. It was likely a reaction to Lithuanian incursions into Mongol-held territories. After raiding Lithuania and the Yotvingians, the next year, two tumens (20,000 men), under the leadership of Berke, attacked Poland (in what is known as the second Mongol invasion of Poland). \n\nThe Mongol invasion of Lithuania in the years 1258–1259 is generally seen as a Mongol victory, as Lithuanian territories have been described as \"devastated\" following the Mongol incursion, in what was \"possibly the most horrible event of the thirteenth century\" for Lithuania. In the immediate aftermath of this invasion, Lithuania might have become a tributary or protectorate and ally to the Horde for several years or decades. A similar fate was likely met by the Lithuanians' neighbours, the Yotvingians. Some Lithuanian or Yotvingian warriors likely participated in the Mongol invasion of Poland in 1259, though there are no historical documents to clarify whether they did so with their leaders' permission, or as free mercenaries, or as forced troops.\n\nNonetheless, the invasion did not have major or lasting consequences for Lithuania, particularly as it was not directly incorporated into the Mongol Empire, nor subject to Mongol darughachi administration. Lithuanian defeat did however weaken the power of Lithuanian king Mindaugas who was eventually assassinated in 1263, which also marked the end of the short-lived, Christian Kingdom of Lithuania. The temporary shifting of the allegiance of its successor, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, toward Mongols, or at least, away from the Christian Europe, was also a short-term victory for the Mongols.\n\nLegacy\nMongols raided Lithuania again in 1275, 1279, and 1325.\n\nOverall, the Mongols did not make any major effort to conquer Lithuania. In time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a rival to the Golden Horde, temporarily taking over some of the former Kievan Rus' territories controlled by the Mongols as the Horde became weakened in the 13th and 14th centuries, though it lacked manpower to threaten Mongol territories outside of northeastern Europe.\n\nSee also\nMongol invasion of Europe\n\nReferences\n\nLithuania\nWars involving the Grand Duchy of Lithuania\nHistory of Lithuania (1219–1569)\n13th-century conflicts\n13th century in the Mongol Empire\n13th century in Lithuania",
"The Northern Mongols can refer to:\n\nOuter Mongols, or Mongols in Outer Mongolia; most of which are Khalkha Mongols now living in modern Mongolia.\nThe subgroup of Mongols composed of the Barga Mongols, Buryats and Hamnigan Buryats."
]
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"why did it decline",
"The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions.",
"what land campaigns were there",
"At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians.",
"why were they fighting the mongolians",
"Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north.",
"what did the mongols want",
"The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically."
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| C_7e92ca3c925b4031916e20900cc4a56d_0 | was there a war | 7 | was there a war between the mongolians and Imperial China? | Zheng He | In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous; other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen this as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions - unauthorized by (and in fact, counter to) the injunctions of the dynastic founder - presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty. State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital north to Beijing exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor did political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen. However, missions from Southeast Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them: the History of Ming records imperial edicts forbidding Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years. CANNOTANSWER | Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. | Zheng He (; 1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.
Early life and family
Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, during the Ming dynasty of China. He had an older brother and four sisters.
Zheng He's religious beliefs became all-embracing and eclectic in his adulthood. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess's central role to the treasure fleet. John Guy mentions, "When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the 'Western Ocean' (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou."
Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty. His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan. Zheng He's grandfather carried the title hajji, and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang. In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He's father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces. Dreyer states that Zheng He's father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He's father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle. Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming. In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).
Capture, castration and service
Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies at Yunnan in 1381. General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Afterwards, the general took him prisoner. He was castrated at some point between the age of 10 and 14, and was placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.
Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma. Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, would gain the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch. Since 1380, the prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing), which was near the northern frontier, with hostile Mongol tribes. Ma would spend his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier. He often participated in Zhu Di's military campaigns against the Mongols. On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the Prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen for a deception.
Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince. Ma was also known as "Sanbao" during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan. This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels (, also known as triratna). This name could also be written , literally "Three Protections." Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate. The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated many of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.
Adulthood and military career
Zheng He's appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.
The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 13991402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince's son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di's nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuēfān (), or "reducing the feudatories", which entails eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping's city reservoir Zhenglunba against the imperial armies. In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.
In 1402, Zhu Di's armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402. Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later. After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants (). During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname "Zheng" to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir Zhenglunba against imperial forces in the Siege of Beiping of 1399. Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.
In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy () during his sea voyages. Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor of trading and collecting tribute in the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner. The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424. When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence.
On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages. On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city's defense. On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao'en Temple at Nanjing. He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.
On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for placing the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to , the nature of the emperor's words indicated that Zheng He's behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.
In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian (), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.
Expeditions
The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since "universal" maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa. Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor's expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor's attempt to capture his escaped predecessor, which would have made the first voyage the "largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China."
Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing. Zheng He's first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.
Zheng He's fleets visited Brunei, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast. The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He's the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.
While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China's power through expansion. During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá Shènglǎn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people's customs and lives in the ports that they visited. He referred to the expatriate Chinese as "Tang" people ().
Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.
In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 14241425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather's sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean." The voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun" (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:
Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.
They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming's eunuch faction over the administration's scholar-bureaucrats. Upon Zheng He's death and his faction's fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.
Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.
Zheng He led seven expeditions to the "Western" or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.
Zheng He wrote of his travels:
We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....
Sailing charts
Zheng He's sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.
Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map which covers the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa suggests that it is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.
There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.
Size of ships
Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He's 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts:
"Chinese treasure ships" (), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies, nine-masted, about long, wide, with four decks.
Equine ships (), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, about long and wide.
Supply ships (), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, about long and wide.
Troop transports (), six-masted, about long and wide.
Fuchuan warships (), five-masted, about long.
Patrol boats (), eight-oared, about long.
Water tankers (), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.
Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433 with fleets thought to be of comparable size.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò de' Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as . On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.
The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, long, which was launched in 1765, and the Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He's ships were in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as .
One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 largest Zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships. That would give burthen of 500 tons and a displacement tonnage of about 800 tons. However recent finds after the discovery of the Longjiang shipyards site from 2005 indicate the ships sourced tropical hardwood from Indonesia and were lined with palm fibres and concrete to maintain seaworthiness for a hull of much larger proportions. The rudder remains suggest the highest end of estimates were possible, supporting the 1962 find nearby of a bracket, in diameter for steering a vessel of as stated in the court documents, and dated to about 600 years. However, authorities agree that more is needed to be found to establish the true length.
Death
One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after the seventh voyage. Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, dying in 1435.
A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.
Legacy
Zheng's voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.
Imperial China
In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors' official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.
State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.
However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.
Southeast Asia
Veneration
Among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration. Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as "Poontaokong" on Sulu. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. (The same village of Hongjian, in Fujian's Jiaomei township, is also the ancestral home of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.)
Malacca
The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community's Chinese inhabitants.
Following Zheng He's arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan. Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.
Indonesia
The Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.
In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia. The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language. The Malay Annals also record a number of Hanafi mosques in Semarang and Ancol, for instance were converted directly into temples of the Zheng He cult during the 1460s and the 1470s. The Sam Poo Kong temple in Semarang was built to commemorate Zheng He's voyage to Java.
Modern scholarship
In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China. Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He's voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.
Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, "offer counterfactual arguments," and "emphasize China's missed opportunity" by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that "Zheng He reshaped Asia" because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.
Cultural influence
Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.
On his travels, Zheng He built mosques and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries. Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.
In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge's 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell's 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series Picard further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI Zheng He is a 'great admiral' unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.
Relics
Nanjing Temple of Mazu
Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace (), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
Taicang Stele
The "Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange" () or "Tongfan Deed Stele" is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
Nanshan Stele
To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, "A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power" (), discussing their earlier voyages.
Sri Lankan Stele
The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.
Tomb and Museum
Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic.
The tomb of Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
Commemoration
In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó Hánghǎi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.
In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show "Zheng He is coming" for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.
Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Navy ship Zhang He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.
The China National Space Administration has named its proposed sample-return spacecraft ZhengHe.
Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.
Gallery
See also
Chang Yuchun
Chinese exploration
CMA CGM Zheng He
Fei Xin
Galle Trilingual Inscription
Hong Bao
Hui
Ma Huan
Ming dynasty
Ming Shi-lu
Romon U-Park
Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages
Zhou Man
Zhu Di
Man-cheti
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, . Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
External links
World History Encyclopedia - The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
Zheng He 600th Anniversary
BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".
TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages
1371 births
1430s deaths
14th-century Chinese people
15th-century Chinese people
15th-century explorers
Year of death uncertain
Burials at sea
Chinese admirals
Ming dynasty diplomats
Chinese explorers
Chinese Muslims
Explorers of China
Explorers of Asia
Explorers of Africa
History of Kerala
Hui people
Medieval Chinese geographers
Medieval Islamic travel writers
Ming dynasty eunuchs
Naval history of China
People from Kunming
Scientists from Yunnan
Treasure voyages
Yongle Emperor
15th-century diplomats
Explorers of India | true | [
"Operation Alaska, Finalaska or New Finland was a proposed plan by some US officials to take Finnish refugees into Alaska if the Soviet Union would have conquered Finland. There were plans to take Finns into Alaska, both during the Winter War and the Continuation War. New Finland would have been established in Central Alaska around the Tanana River.\n\nThe plan was opposed by Alaskans, mainly because of the Finnish language which is difficult to learn and not commonly used in the region.\n\nBackground \nIn the United States during the winter war, a genocide of the Finns was feared, so it was proposed that America would save the Finns by evacuating them into Alaska. Alaska was chosen because it was thought to be suitable for Finnish people and because it had a very low population. During the continuation war there was also a plan to take Finnish refugees, however on a larger scale, because America was ready to evacuate the whole Finnish population and a populated Alaska would have been better secured in the upcoming Cold War against Soviet offensives.\n\nReferences \nWinter War\n\nContinuation War\nHistory of Finland\nHistory of Alaska\nUnited States home front during World War II",
"Linenopolis was a nickname applied to the city of Belfast in the 19th century.\n\nDuring the American Civil War there were disruptions to the supply of cotton reaching Europe, and during this period Irish linen experienced somewhat of a revival. There was a shortage of cotton goods on the world market. This was known as the Cotton Famine, and much of the slack was taken up by Irish linen. There was significant expansion in the industry, and many mill owners made enormous profits. Even after the end of the Civil War in 1865, the momentum was maintained and companies continued to flourish until the mid-1870s. Belfast, Ireland was by then the largest linen producing area in the world, and this continued to be the case up until World War I; the city greatly earned the nickname of Linenopolis. Manchester was the cotton capital of the British Empire; Belfast was the linen capital.\n\nSee also \n Cottonopolis\n\nReferences\n\nWoven fabrics\nLinen industry in Ireland\nHistory of Belfast\n19th century in Belfast\n\nid:Linen"
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"Eddie Rabbitt",
"Musical styles"
]
| C_0d4c6dd1297e44e9b7d85cf6e4398d7e_0 | what was his musical style like? | 1 | What was Eddie Rabbitt's musical style like? | Eddie Rabbitt | Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale," Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage." Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes." During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts and rapes during this period. CANNOTANSWER | Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. | Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions", "I Love a Rainy Night" (a number-one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100), and "Every Which Way but Loose" (the theme from the film of the same title). His duets "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Juice Newton and "You and I" with Crystal Gayle later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Early life
Rabbitt was born to Irish immigrants Thomas Michael and Mae (née Joyce) Rabbitt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, and was raised in the nearby community of East Orange, New Jersey. His father was an oil-refinery refrigeration worker, and a skilled fiddle and accordion player, who often entertained in local New York City dance halls. By age 12, Rabbitt was a proficient guitar player, having been taught by his scoutmaster, Bob Scwickrath. During his childhood Rabbitt became a self-proclaimed "walking encyclopedia of country music". After his parents divorced, he dropped out of school at age 16. His mother, Mae, explained that Eddie "was never one for school [because] his head was too full of music." He later obtained a high-school diploma at night school.
Career
Early career
Rabbitt worked as a mental hospital attendant in the late 1950s, but like his father, he fulfilled his love of music by performing at the Six Steps Down club in his hometown. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1964, he signed his first record deal with 20th Century Records and released the singles "Next to the Note" and "Six Nights and Seven Days". Four years later, with $1,000 to his name, Rabbitt moved to Nashville, where he began his career as a songwriter. During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom", which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968. To support himself, Rabbitt worked as a truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker in Nashville. He was ultimately hired as a staff writer for the Hill & Range Publishing Company for $37.50 per week. As a young songwriter, Rabbitt socialized with other aspiring writers at Wally's Clubhouse, a Nashville bar; he said he and the other patrons had "no place else to go."
Rabbitt became successful as a songwriter in 1969, when Elvis Presley recorded his song "Kentucky Rain". The song went gold and cast Rabbitt as one of Nashville's leading young songwriters. Presley also recorded Rabbitt's song "Patch It Up", featured in the concert film "Elvis: That's the Way It Is". And a lesser known Presley song called "Inherit the Wind "on the Album Elvis Back in Memphis. While eating Cap'n Crunch, he penned "Pure Love", which Ronnie Milsap rode to number one in 1974. This song led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records in 1975. His first single under that label, "You Get to Me", made the top 40 that year, and two songs in 1975, "Forgive and Forget" and "I Should Have Married You", nearly made the top 10. These three songs, along with a recording of "Pure Love", were included on Rabbitt's 1975 self-named debut album. In 1976, his critically acclaimed album Rocky Mountain Music was released, which included Rabbitt's first number-one country hit, "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)". In 1977, his third album, Rabbitt, was released, and made the top five on Country Albums chart. Also in 1977, the Academy of Country Music named Rabbitt "Top New Male Vocalist of the Year". By that time, he had a good reputation in Nashville, and was being compared by critics to singer Kris Kristofferson. In 1977, at Knott's Berry Farm, Rabbitt appeared at the Country Music Awards and sang several of his songs from Rocky Mountain Music. He won the Top New Male Vocalist of the Year award.
Crossover success
While still relatively unknown, Rabbitt toured with and opened for crossover star Kenny Rogers, and also for Dolly Parton on a number of dates during her 1978 tour. Following the 1978 release of Variations, which included two more number-one hits, Rabbitt released his first compilation album, The Best of Eddie Rabbitt. It produced Rabbitt's first crossover single, "Every Which Way But Loose", which topped country charts and reached the top 30 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary, and was featured in the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. The song also broke the record for highest chart debut, entering at number 18. Rabbitt held this record until it was shared with Garth Brooks's 2005 single "Good Ride Cowboy." The record was broken in 2006 upon the number-17 chart entrance of Keith Urban's "Once in a Lifetime." Rabbitt's next single, the R&B-flavored "Suspicions" from his 1979 album Loveline, was an even greater crossover success, again reaching number one on Country charts and the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Adult Contemporary charts. He was given his own television special on NBC, first airing on July 10, 1980, which included appearances by such performers as Emmylou Harris and Jerry Lee Lewis. By this point, Rabbitt had been compared to a "young Elvis Presley".
Rabbitt's next album, Horizon, reached platinum status and contained the biggest crossover hits of his career, "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Drivin' My Life Away." Rabbitt developed "Rainy Night" from a song fragment he penned during a 1960s thunderstorm. "Drivin'" recalled Rabbitt's tenure as a truck driver, and was inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". His popularity was so great at this point that he was offered his own variety television show, which he respectfully declined, saying "It's not worth the gamble."
The release of his 1981 Step by Step album continued Rabbitt's crossover success as all three singles reached the top 10 on both Country and Adult Contemporary charts. The title track became Rabbitt's third straight single to reach the top five on the Country, Adult Contemporary, and Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album ultimately reached gold status, Rabbitt's last album to do so. He teamed up with another country pop crossover star, Crystal Gayle, on "You and I", which was included on his 1982 album Radio Romance. The duet reached number one on the Billboard Country chart and became a pop smash, peaking at number seven and number two, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It was used as a love theme for a couple on the soap opera All My Children. The song "You Put the Beat in My Heart" from Rabbitt's second compilation, Greatest Hits - Volume II (1983), was his last crossover hit, reaching number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Late career
During the 1980s, Rabbitt moved further from crossover-styled music. His 1984 album The Best Year of My Life produced a number-one country hit and three more top-10 country hits, but none had crossover success. The illness and subsequent death of his son put his career on hold following the 1985 RCA Records release Rabbitt Trax, which included the number one "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)", a duet with country pop star Juice Newton. Like "You and I", the song was used as the theme for a soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
Rabbitt returned from his hiatus in 1988 with the release of I Wanna Dance With You, which despite somewhat negative reviews produced two number-one songs, a cover of Dion's "The Wanderer" and the album's title track. Additionally, "We Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" entered the top 10, although the album's final single "That's Why I Fell in Love with You" stalled at number 66. Rabbitt's Capitol Records album Jersey Boy was reviewed positively, as was its single "On Second Thought", Rabbitt's last number-one hit. The album also included "American Boy", a patriotic tune popular during the Gulf War and used in Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was among the many country singers who suffered a dramatic decline in chart success beginning in 1991. That year, he released Ten Rounds, which produced the final charting single of his career, "Hang Up the Phone". Following that release, he left Capitol Records to tour with his band Hare Trigger.
In 1997, Rabbitt signed with Intersound Records, but was soon diagnosed with lung cancer. After a round of chemotherapy, he released the album Beatin' the Odds. In 1998, he released his last studio album, Songs from Rabbittland.
Musical styles
Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale", Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage."
Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes."
During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenaged pregnancy, high-school dropouts, and rapes during this period.
Personal life
When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt said he had "an affinity for animals" and kept the bird for a while before giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt had a pet monkey, Jojo. Before his Rocky Mountain Music tour, the monkey bit Rabbitt, leaving his right arm in bandages.
In 1976, Rabbitt married Janine Girardi, whom he called "a little thing about five feet tall, with long, black beautiful hair, and a real pretty face." He had previously written the songs "Pure Love" and "Sweet Janine" for her. They had three children, Demelza, Timmy, and Tommy. Timmy was diagnosed with biliary atresia upon birth. The condition required a liver transplant for survival and he underwent one in 1985, but the attempt failed and he died. Rabbitt temporarily put his career on hiatus, saying, "I didn't want to be out of the music business, but where I was more important." Tommy was born in 1986.
Rabbitt felt his responsibility as an entertainer was to be a good role model and he was an advocate for many charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation, of which he served as honorary chairman. He also worked as a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy.
Rabbitt was a registered Republican and let Bob Dole use his song "American Boy" during Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was also a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation and visited the set during the show's fifth season in 1991–92.
Death
Rabbitt, a longtime smoker, died on May 7, 1998, in Nashville from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville on May 8, 1998.
No media outlets reported the death until after the burial at the family's request. The news came as a surprise to many in Nashville, including the performer's agent, who "had no idea Eddie was terminal" and had talked to him often, remarking that Rabbitt "was always upbeat and cheerful" in the final months of his life. Although he was widely believed to have been born in 1944 (this year can still be found in older publications and texts), at the time of his death, he was revealed to have been born in 1941.
Awards
Discography
References
External links
Eddie Rabbitt at CMT.com
Family Ties - People.com Archives
Eddie Rabbitt Did the 'roadie' Theme for a Reason: He's the Groupies' New Fantasy Figure - People.com Archives
1941 births
1998 deaths
American country singer-songwriters
American people of Irish descent
American male singer-songwriters
Deaths from cancer in Tennessee
Deaths from lung cancer
Elektra Records artists
Musicians from Brooklyn
RCA Records Nashville artists
20th-century American singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Country musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male singers
New York (state) Republicans | true | [
"Time and the Wind is a musical revue by composer Galt MacDermot and lyricist by Norman Matlock. Directed and choreographed by Louis Johnson with musical direction by MacDermot, the show premiered Off-Broadway at the John Houseman Studio Theater on July 27, 1995 with costumes by Bernard Johnson and lighting by Deborah Constantine. The show was produced by Eric Krebs and AMAS Musical Theater Inc. It starred Christopher Jackson, Carol Denise, Russell Joel Brown, Suzanne Griffin, Johnetta Alston, and Carl Hall. In his review in The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote, \"The show calls itself \"a New York musical revue,\" but aside from \"Gentle Rain,\" which compares people to cockroaches, the lyrics include few references to urban life. The predominant musical style is the gospel-flavored pop-soul that flourished 25 years ago but has long since been usurped by funk, rap and hip-hop.\"\n\nPlot\nThe show follows the relationship arcs of three unidentified romantic couples: a young streetwise couple, a 30 something yuppy pair, and a middleaged argumentative couple.\n\nMusical numbers\n\n'Time and the Wind'\n\"Mais Qui'\n'I Came to Town'\n'Gentle Rain'\n'By the Time I Forget Her'\n'Now I am Ready (Flustered)'\n'My Key Doesn't Fit The Lock'\n'I Am Not Gone'\n'There Are Times'\n'Should I Tell Him'\n\n'If What I Saw'\n'They Didn't Ask'\n'Quittin' Time'\n'What Can I Say'\n'I've Seen People Like Them Before'\n'Ah, It's Love'\n'When You Love Really'\n'Tell Her You Care'\n'Send Me You'\n'Funky Dance'\n'When I Was A Child'\n\n'Level With You'\n\"I Was Taught To Love'\n'Flowers In Your Hair'\n'What You Look Like'\n'I Love You'\n'True Love's Hand'\n'Wanted to Dine'\n'There Are Girls'\n'Goodbye'\n'According To The Plan'\n'Finale'\n\nReferences\n\nOff-Broadway musicals\n1995 musicals\nMusicals by Galt MacDermot\nRevues",
"June is a Polish band playing a mixture of soul and jazz. It was founded in 2008 by musicians/music producers Jan Smoczyński, Robert Cichy and Krzysztof Pacan. All three musicians have previously worked with Polish artists such as Smolik, Anna Maria Jopek, Michał Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Ania Dąbrowska. In 2009, the band was nominated for a Fryderyk award.\n\nHistory\n\nThat's What I Like (2008–2011) \nThe band's debut album That's What I Like was released on 12 September 2008. Polish singer Kayah decided to release it through her label Kayax and made a guest appearance in a song \"Be Yourself\". The other guest vocalist on the record was Paulina \"Pinnawela\" Przybysz (formerly Sistars), who sang in \"No F No L\".\n\nIn 2009, the band was nominated for the Fryderyk award in New Face of Fonography category.\n\nJuly Stars (2011–present) \nJune's sophomore album, July Stars, was released in May 2012 as a double album. The second disc contains songs with guest vocals by Urszula Dudziak, Kayah, Kasia Nosowska, Ania Dąbrowska, Aga Zaryan, Mika Urbaniak, Andrzej Dąbrowski, Marcelina Stoszek and Patrycja Gola.\n\nOn 4 July 2012, the band performed at the Tent Stage at Open'er Festival.\n\nMusical style \nJune's music has been influenced by artists like N.E.R.D, OutKast, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu.\n\nBand members \n Jan Smoczyński – piano (2008–present)\n Robert Cichy – guitar, vocals (2008–present)\n Krzysztof Pacan – (2008–present)\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n\nAwards and nominations\n\nFryderyk\n\n|-\n| 2009 || June || New Face of Fonography ||\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\n\nPolish jazz\nMusical groups established in 2008"
]
|
[
"Eddie Rabbitt",
"Musical styles",
"what was his musical style like?",
"Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos."
]
| C_0d4c6dd1297e44e9b7d85cf6e4398d7e_0 | how did people like it? | 2 | How did people Eddie Rabbitt's musical style? | Eddie Rabbitt | Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale," Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage." Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes." During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts and rapes during this period. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions", "I Love a Rainy Night" (a number-one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100), and "Every Which Way but Loose" (the theme from the film of the same title). His duets "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Juice Newton and "You and I" with Crystal Gayle later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Early life
Rabbitt was born to Irish immigrants Thomas Michael and Mae (née Joyce) Rabbitt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, and was raised in the nearby community of East Orange, New Jersey. His father was an oil-refinery refrigeration worker, and a skilled fiddle and accordion player, who often entertained in local New York City dance halls. By age 12, Rabbitt was a proficient guitar player, having been taught by his scoutmaster, Bob Scwickrath. During his childhood Rabbitt became a self-proclaimed "walking encyclopedia of country music". After his parents divorced, he dropped out of school at age 16. His mother, Mae, explained that Eddie "was never one for school [because] his head was too full of music." He later obtained a high-school diploma at night school.
Career
Early career
Rabbitt worked as a mental hospital attendant in the late 1950s, but like his father, he fulfilled his love of music by performing at the Six Steps Down club in his hometown. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1964, he signed his first record deal with 20th Century Records and released the singles "Next to the Note" and "Six Nights and Seven Days". Four years later, with $1,000 to his name, Rabbitt moved to Nashville, where he began his career as a songwriter. During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom", which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968. To support himself, Rabbitt worked as a truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker in Nashville. He was ultimately hired as a staff writer for the Hill & Range Publishing Company for $37.50 per week. As a young songwriter, Rabbitt socialized with other aspiring writers at Wally's Clubhouse, a Nashville bar; he said he and the other patrons had "no place else to go."
Rabbitt became successful as a songwriter in 1969, when Elvis Presley recorded his song "Kentucky Rain". The song went gold and cast Rabbitt as one of Nashville's leading young songwriters. Presley also recorded Rabbitt's song "Patch It Up", featured in the concert film "Elvis: That's the Way It Is". And a lesser known Presley song called "Inherit the Wind "on the Album Elvis Back in Memphis. While eating Cap'n Crunch, he penned "Pure Love", which Ronnie Milsap rode to number one in 1974. This song led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records in 1975. His first single under that label, "You Get to Me", made the top 40 that year, and two songs in 1975, "Forgive and Forget" and "I Should Have Married You", nearly made the top 10. These three songs, along with a recording of "Pure Love", were included on Rabbitt's 1975 self-named debut album. In 1976, his critically acclaimed album Rocky Mountain Music was released, which included Rabbitt's first number-one country hit, "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)". In 1977, his third album, Rabbitt, was released, and made the top five on Country Albums chart. Also in 1977, the Academy of Country Music named Rabbitt "Top New Male Vocalist of the Year". By that time, he had a good reputation in Nashville, and was being compared by critics to singer Kris Kristofferson. In 1977, at Knott's Berry Farm, Rabbitt appeared at the Country Music Awards and sang several of his songs from Rocky Mountain Music. He won the Top New Male Vocalist of the Year award.
Crossover success
While still relatively unknown, Rabbitt toured with and opened for crossover star Kenny Rogers, and also for Dolly Parton on a number of dates during her 1978 tour. Following the 1978 release of Variations, which included two more number-one hits, Rabbitt released his first compilation album, The Best of Eddie Rabbitt. It produced Rabbitt's first crossover single, "Every Which Way But Loose", which topped country charts and reached the top 30 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary, and was featured in the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. The song also broke the record for highest chart debut, entering at number 18. Rabbitt held this record until it was shared with Garth Brooks's 2005 single "Good Ride Cowboy." The record was broken in 2006 upon the number-17 chart entrance of Keith Urban's "Once in a Lifetime." Rabbitt's next single, the R&B-flavored "Suspicions" from his 1979 album Loveline, was an even greater crossover success, again reaching number one on Country charts and the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Adult Contemporary charts. He was given his own television special on NBC, first airing on July 10, 1980, which included appearances by such performers as Emmylou Harris and Jerry Lee Lewis. By this point, Rabbitt had been compared to a "young Elvis Presley".
Rabbitt's next album, Horizon, reached platinum status and contained the biggest crossover hits of his career, "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Drivin' My Life Away." Rabbitt developed "Rainy Night" from a song fragment he penned during a 1960s thunderstorm. "Drivin'" recalled Rabbitt's tenure as a truck driver, and was inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". His popularity was so great at this point that he was offered his own variety television show, which he respectfully declined, saying "It's not worth the gamble."
The release of his 1981 Step by Step album continued Rabbitt's crossover success as all three singles reached the top 10 on both Country and Adult Contemporary charts. The title track became Rabbitt's third straight single to reach the top five on the Country, Adult Contemporary, and Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album ultimately reached gold status, Rabbitt's last album to do so. He teamed up with another country pop crossover star, Crystal Gayle, on "You and I", which was included on his 1982 album Radio Romance. The duet reached number one on the Billboard Country chart and became a pop smash, peaking at number seven and number two, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It was used as a love theme for a couple on the soap opera All My Children. The song "You Put the Beat in My Heart" from Rabbitt's second compilation, Greatest Hits - Volume II (1983), was his last crossover hit, reaching number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Late career
During the 1980s, Rabbitt moved further from crossover-styled music. His 1984 album The Best Year of My Life produced a number-one country hit and three more top-10 country hits, but none had crossover success. The illness and subsequent death of his son put his career on hold following the 1985 RCA Records release Rabbitt Trax, which included the number one "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)", a duet with country pop star Juice Newton. Like "You and I", the song was used as the theme for a soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
Rabbitt returned from his hiatus in 1988 with the release of I Wanna Dance With You, which despite somewhat negative reviews produced two number-one songs, a cover of Dion's "The Wanderer" and the album's title track. Additionally, "We Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" entered the top 10, although the album's final single "That's Why I Fell in Love with You" stalled at number 66. Rabbitt's Capitol Records album Jersey Boy was reviewed positively, as was its single "On Second Thought", Rabbitt's last number-one hit. The album also included "American Boy", a patriotic tune popular during the Gulf War and used in Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was among the many country singers who suffered a dramatic decline in chart success beginning in 1991. That year, he released Ten Rounds, which produced the final charting single of his career, "Hang Up the Phone". Following that release, he left Capitol Records to tour with his band Hare Trigger.
In 1997, Rabbitt signed with Intersound Records, but was soon diagnosed with lung cancer. After a round of chemotherapy, he released the album Beatin' the Odds. In 1998, he released his last studio album, Songs from Rabbittland.
Musical styles
Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale", Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage."
Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes."
During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenaged pregnancy, high-school dropouts, and rapes during this period.
Personal life
When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt said he had "an affinity for animals" and kept the bird for a while before giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt had a pet monkey, Jojo. Before his Rocky Mountain Music tour, the monkey bit Rabbitt, leaving his right arm in bandages.
In 1976, Rabbitt married Janine Girardi, whom he called "a little thing about five feet tall, with long, black beautiful hair, and a real pretty face." He had previously written the songs "Pure Love" and "Sweet Janine" for her. They had three children, Demelza, Timmy, and Tommy. Timmy was diagnosed with biliary atresia upon birth. The condition required a liver transplant for survival and he underwent one in 1985, but the attempt failed and he died. Rabbitt temporarily put his career on hiatus, saying, "I didn't want to be out of the music business, but where I was more important." Tommy was born in 1986.
Rabbitt felt his responsibility as an entertainer was to be a good role model and he was an advocate for many charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation, of which he served as honorary chairman. He also worked as a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy.
Rabbitt was a registered Republican and let Bob Dole use his song "American Boy" during Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was also a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation and visited the set during the show's fifth season in 1991–92.
Death
Rabbitt, a longtime smoker, died on May 7, 1998, in Nashville from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville on May 8, 1998.
No media outlets reported the death until after the burial at the family's request. The news came as a surprise to many in Nashville, including the performer's agent, who "had no idea Eddie was terminal" and had talked to him often, remarking that Rabbitt "was always upbeat and cheerful" in the final months of his life. Although he was widely believed to have been born in 1944 (this year can still be found in older publications and texts), at the time of his death, he was revealed to have been born in 1941.
Awards
Discography
References
External links
Eddie Rabbitt at CMT.com
Family Ties - People.com Archives
Eddie Rabbitt Did the 'roadie' Theme for a Reason: He's the Groupies' New Fantasy Figure - People.com Archives
1941 births
1998 deaths
American country singer-songwriters
American people of Irish descent
American male singer-songwriters
Deaths from cancer in Tennessee
Deaths from lung cancer
Elektra Records artists
Musicians from Brooklyn
RCA Records Nashville artists
20th-century American singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Country musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male singers
New York (state) Republicans | false | [
"Follow Me! is a series of television programmes produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk and the BBC in the late 1970s to provide a crash course in the English language. It became popular in many overseas countries as a first introduction to English; in 1983, one hundred million people watched the show in China alone, featuring Kathy Flower.\n\nThe British actor Francis Matthews hosted and narrated the series.\n\nThe course consists of sixty lessons. Each lesson lasts from 12 to 15 minutes and covers a specific lexis. The lessons follow a consistent group of actors, with the relationships between their characters developing during the course.\n\nFollow Me! actors\n Francis Matthews\n Raymond Mason\n David Savile\n Ian Bamforth\n Keith Alexander\n Diane Mercer\n Jane Argyle\n Diana King\n Veronica Leigh\n Elaine Wells\n Danielle Cohn\n Lashawnda Bell\n\nEpisodes \n \"What's your name\"\n \"How are you\"\n \"Can you help me\"\n \"Left, right, straight ahead\"\n \"Where are they\"\n \"What's the time\"\n \"What's this What's that\"\n \"I like it very much\"\n \"Have you got any wine\"\n \"What are they doing\"\n \"Can I have your name, please\"\n \"What does she look like\"\n \"No smoking\"\n \"It's on the first floor\"\n \"Where's he gone\"\n \"Going away\"\n \"Buying things\"\n \"Why do you like it\"\n \"What do you need\"\n \"I sometimes work late\"\n \"Welcome to Britain\"\n \"Who's that\"\n \"What would you like to do\"\n \"How can I get there?\"\n \"Where is it\"\n \"What's the date\"\n \"Whose is it\"\n \"I enjoy it\"\n \"How many and how much\"\n \"What have you done\"\n \"Haven't we met before\"\n \"What did you say\"\n \"Please stop\"\n \"How can I get to Brightly\"\n \"Where can I get it\"\n \"There's a concert on Wednesday\"\n \"What's it like\"\n \"What do you think of him\"\n \"I need someone\"\n \"What were you doing\"\n \"What do you do\"\n \"What do you know about him\"\n \"You shouldn't do that\"\n \"I hope you enjoy your holiday\"\n \"Where can I see a football match\"\n \"When will it be ready\"\n \"Where did you go\"\n \"I think it's awful\"\n \"A room with a view\"\n \"You'll be ill\"\n \"I don't believe in strikes\"\n \"They look tired\"\n \"Would you like to\"\n \"Holiday plans\"\n \"The second shelf on the left\"\n \"When you are ready\"\n \"Tell them about Britain\"\n \"I liked everything\"\n \"Classical or modern\"\n \"Finale\"\n\nReferences \n\n BBC article about the series in China\n\nExternal links \n Follow Me – Beginner level \n Follow Me – Elementary level\n Follow Me – Intermediate level\n Follow Me – Advanced level\n\nAdult education television series\nEnglish-language education television programming",
"How You Like Me Now? can refer to one of three songs:\n\n\"How You Like Me Now?\" (The Heavy song)\nHow Ya Like Me Now, 1987 album by Kool Moe Dee\n\"How Ya Like Me Now\" (song), title track from above album\n\"How You Like Me Now\", 2011 song by Alexis Jordan from Alexis Jordan\n\"How U Like Me Now?\" 2015 song by Yung Lean and ThaiBoy Digital from the deluxe edition of Warlord\n\nSee also\nHow Do You Like Me Now?!, 1999 album by Toby Keith\n\"How Do You Like Me Now?!\" (song), title track from above album\nHow You Love Me Now, 2008 song by Hey Monday from Hold On Tight"
]
|
[
"Eddie Rabbitt",
"Musical styles",
"what was his musical style like?",
"Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos.",
"how did people like it?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_0d4c6dd1297e44e9b7d85cf6e4398d7e_0 | did he have any influences in his style? | 3 | Did Eddie Rabbitt have any influences in his style? | Eddie Rabbitt | Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale," Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage." Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes." During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts and rapes during this period. CANNOTANSWER | His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. | Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions", "I Love a Rainy Night" (a number-one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100), and "Every Which Way but Loose" (the theme from the film of the same title). His duets "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Juice Newton and "You and I" with Crystal Gayle later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Early life
Rabbitt was born to Irish immigrants Thomas Michael and Mae (née Joyce) Rabbitt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, and was raised in the nearby community of East Orange, New Jersey. His father was an oil-refinery refrigeration worker, and a skilled fiddle and accordion player, who often entertained in local New York City dance halls. By age 12, Rabbitt was a proficient guitar player, having been taught by his scoutmaster, Bob Scwickrath. During his childhood Rabbitt became a self-proclaimed "walking encyclopedia of country music". After his parents divorced, he dropped out of school at age 16. His mother, Mae, explained that Eddie "was never one for school [because] his head was too full of music." He later obtained a high-school diploma at night school.
Career
Early career
Rabbitt worked as a mental hospital attendant in the late 1950s, but like his father, he fulfilled his love of music by performing at the Six Steps Down club in his hometown. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1964, he signed his first record deal with 20th Century Records and released the singles "Next to the Note" and "Six Nights and Seven Days". Four years later, with $1,000 to his name, Rabbitt moved to Nashville, where he began his career as a songwriter. During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom", which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968. To support himself, Rabbitt worked as a truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker in Nashville. He was ultimately hired as a staff writer for the Hill & Range Publishing Company for $37.50 per week. As a young songwriter, Rabbitt socialized with other aspiring writers at Wally's Clubhouse, a Nashville bar; he said he and the other patrons had "no place else to go."
Rabbitt became successful as a songwriter in 1969, when Elvis Presley recorded his song "Kentucky Rain". The song went gold and cast Rabbitt as one of Nashville's leading young songwriters. Presley also recorded Rabbitt's song "Patch It Up", featured in the concert film "Elvis: That's the Way It Is". And a lesser known Presley song called "Inherit the Wind "on the Album Elvis Back in Memphis. While eating Cap'n Crunch, he penned "Pure Love", which Ronnie Milsap rode to number one in 1974. This song led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records in 1975. His first single under that label, "You Get to Me", made the top 40 that year, and two songs in 1975, "Forgive and Forget" and "I Should Have Married You", nearly made the top 10. These three songs, along with a recording of "Pure Love", were included on Rabbitt's 1975 self-named debut album. In 1976, his critically acclaimed album Rocky Mountain Music was released, which included Rabbitt's first number-one country hit, "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)". In 1977, his third album, Rabbitt, was released, and made the top five on Country Albums chart. Also in 1977, the Academy of Country Music named Rabbitt "Top New Male Vocalist of the Year". By that time, he had a good reputation in Nashville, and was being compared by critics to singer Kris Kristofferson. In 1977, at Knott's Berry Farm, Rabbitt appeared at the Country Music Awards and sang several of his songs from Rocky Mountain Music. He won the Top New Male Vocalist of the Year award.
Crossover success
While still relatively unknown, Rabbitt toured with and opened for crossover star Kenny Rogers, and also for Dolly Parton on a number of dates during her 1978 tour. Following the 1978 release of Variations, which included two more number-one hits, Rabbitt released his first compilation album, The Best of Eddie Rabbitt. It produced Rabbitt's first crossover single, "Every Which Way But Loose", which topped country charts and reached the top 30 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary, and was featured in the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. The song also broke the record for highest chart debut, entering at number 18. Rabbitt held this record until it was shared with Garth Brooks's 2005 single "Good Ride Cowboy." The record was broken in 2006 upon the number-17 chart entrance of Keith Urban's "Once in a Lifetime." Rabbitt's next single, the R&B-flavored "Suspicions" from his 1979 album Loveline, was an even greater crossover success, again reaching number one on Country charts and the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Adult Contemporary charts. He was given his own television special on NBC, first airing on July 10, 1980, which included appearances by such performers as Emmylou Harris and Jerry Lee Lewis. By this point, Rabbitt had been compared to a "young Elvis Presley".
Rabbitt's next album, Horizon, reached platinum status and contained the biggest crossover hits of his career, "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Drivin' My Life Away." Rabbitt developed "Rainy Night" from a song fragment he penned during a 1960s thunderstorm. "Drivin'" recalled Rabbitt's tenure as a truck driver, and was inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". His popularity was so great at this point that he was offered his own variety television show, which he respectfully declined, saying "It's not worth the gamble."
The release of his 1981 Step by Step album continued Rabbitt's crossover success as all three singles reached the top 10 on both Country and Adult Contemporary charts. The title track became Rabbitt's third straight single to reach the top five on the Country, Adult Contemporary, and Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album ultimately reached gold status, Rabbitt's last album to do so. He teamed up with another country pop crossover star, Crystal Gayle, on "You and I", which was included on his 1982 album Radio Romance. The duet reached number one on the Billboard Country chart and became a pop smash, peaking at number seven and number two, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It was used as a love theme for a couple on the soap opera All My Children. The song "You Put the Beat in My Heart" from Rabbitt's second compilation, Greatest Hits - Volume II (1983), was his last crossover hit, reaching number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Late career
During the 1980s, Rabbitt moved further from crossover-styled music. His 1984 album The Best Year of My Life produced a number-one country hit and three more top-10 country hits, but none had crossover success. The illness and subsequent death of his son put his career on hold following the 1985 RCA Records release Rabbitt Trax, which included the number one "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)", a duet with country pop star Juice Newton. Like "You and I", the song was used as the theme for a soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
Rabbitt returned from his hiatus in 1988 with the release of I Wanna Dance With You, which despite somewhat negative reviews produced two number-one songs, a cover of Dion's "The Wanderer" and the album's title track. Additionally, "We Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" entered the top 10, although the album's final single "That's Why I Fell in Love with You" stalled at number 66. Rabbitt's Capitol Records album Jersey Boy was reviewed positively, as was its single "On Second Thought", Rabbitt's last number-one hit. The album also included "American Boy", a patriotic tune popular during the Gulf War and used in Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was among the many country singers who suffered a dramatic decline in chart success beginning in 1991. That year, he released Ten Rounds, which produced the final charting single of his career, "Hang Up the Phone". Following that release, he left Capitol Records to tour with his band Hare Trigger.
In 1997, Rabbitt signed with Intersound Records, but was soon diagnosed with lung cancer. After a round of chemotherapy, he released the album Beatin' the Odds. In 1998, he released his last studio album, Songs from Rabbittland.
Musical styles
Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale", Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage."
Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes."
During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenaged pregnancy, high-school dropouts, and rapes during this period.
Personal life
When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt said he had "an affinity for animals" and kept the bird for a while before giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt had a pet monkey, Jojo. Before his Rocky Mountain Music tour, the monkey bit Rabbitt, leaving his right arm in bandages.
In 1976, Rabbitt married Janine Girardi, whom he called "a little thing about five feet tall, with long, black beautiful hair, and a real pretty face." He had previously written the songs "Pure Love" and "Sweet Janine" for her. They had three children, Demelza, Timmy, and Tommy. Timmy was diagnosed with biliary atresia upon birth. The condition required a liver transplant for survival and he underwent one in 1985, but the attempt failed and he died. Rabbitt temporarily put his career on hiatus, saying, "I didn't want to be out of the music business, but where I was more important." Tommy was born in 1986.
Rabbitt felt his responsibility as an entertainer was to be a good role model and he was an advocate for many charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation, of which he served as honorary chairman. He also worked as a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy.
Rabbitt was a registered Republican and let Bob Dole use his song "American Boy" during Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was also a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation and visited the set during the show's fifth season in 1991–92.
Death
Rabbitt, a longtime smoker, died on May 7, 1998, in Nashville from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville on May 8, 1998.
No media outlets reported the death until after the burial at the family's request. The news came as a surprise to many in Nashville, including the performer's agent, who "had no idea Eddie was terminal" and had talked to him often, remarking that Rabbitt "was always upbeat and cheerful" in the final months of his life. Although he was widely believed to have been born in 1944 (this year can still be found in older publications and texts), at the time of his death, he was revealed to have been born in 1941.
Awards
Discography
References
External links
Eddie Rabbitt at CMT.com
Family Ties - People.com Archives
Eddie Rabbitt Did the 'roadie' Theme for a Reason: He's the Groupies' New Fantasy Figure - People.com Archives
1941 births
1998 deaths
American country singer-songwriters
American people of Irish descent
American male singer-songwriters
Deaths from cancer in Tennessee
Deaths from lung cancer
Elektra Records artists
Musicians from Brooklyn
RCA Records Nashville artists
20th-century American singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Country musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male singers
New York (state) Republicans | true | [
"John Wesley \"Dick\" Summers (1887-1976) was an old-time fiddler from Indiana. He learned to play from his family, but a Tom Riley of Kentucky was also an influence. Summers did not originally read music, but did learn to do so in his 70s. He was one of the only old-time Midwestern fiddlers to have a commercially distributed album in the post-World War II era. As indicated though his style had Southern, and as mentioned Kentucky, influences.\n\nReferences\n\nOld-time fiddlers\nMusicians from Indiana\n1887 births\n1976 deaths\nPlace of birth missing\n20th-century violinists",
"Hendrik Voogd (; 10 July 1768 – 4 September 1839) was a Dutch painter and printmaker, who was active in Italy.\n\nLife \nHendrik Voogd was born on 10 July 1768 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic.\n\nBeginning in 1783, Voogd studied at a local Academy and then later apprenticed under the wallpaper painter Jurriaan Andriessen. The financial aid of the Amsterdam art collector D. Versteegh (1751–1822) enabled him to depart in 1788 for Rome to obtain further training in landscape painting.\n\nWhile in Italy, Voogd befriended many famous landscape painters, such as Nicolas-Didier Boguet, Johann Christian Reinhart and Johann Martin von Rohden. Little is known about his life. He remained in Italy apart from a short visit to the Netherlands in 1828. He never married and is not known to have had any children. Voogd died on 4 September 1839 in Rome in the Papal States. From his obituary, it seems he was considered to be an old-fashioned artist of little influence. The discovery in 1959 of about two hundred of his drawings in Duivenvoorde Castle in South Holland revived interest in his work.\n\nWork \n\nIt is apparent, from one of his infrequent letters home, that Voogd made numerous drawings of Rome and its surroundings, including Tivoli, Lazio, Lake Albano, Castel Gandolfo, and Lake Nemi. Some of these drawings, executed mostly in pencil and black chalk, consist of motifs taken directly from nature, such as trees and rocks; others portray views.\n\nVoogd's works from his first Roman years are primarily drawings with colored wash in the typical late 18th-century linear style. One of his major influences was Claude Lorrain. Due to the similarities in style he was nicknamed the 'Dutch Claude Lorrain'. However, in spite of these influences Voogd still retained influences from his Dutch heritage. He experimented with unusual lighting effects and luxuriant foliage, and from 1806 onwards cattle began to feature prominently in his drawings and paintings. Some of his works can be found at the Rijksmuseum.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n \n\n1768 births\n1839 deaths\nPainters from Amsterdam\nDutch painters\nDutch male painters"
]
|
[
"Eddie Rabbitt",
"Musical styles",
"what was his musical style like?",
"Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos.",
"how did people like it?",
"I don't know.",
"did he have any influences in his style?",
"His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound."
]
| C_0d4c6dd1297e44e9b7d85cf6e4398d7e_0 | what music did he make? | 4 | What music did Eddie Rabbitt make? | Eddie Rabbitt | Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale," Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage." Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes." During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts and rapes during this period. CANNOTANSWER | His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. | Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions", "I Love a Rainy Night" (a number-one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100), and "Every Which Way but Loose" (the theme from the film of the same title). His duets "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Juice Newton and "You and I" with Crystal Gayle later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Early life
Rabbitt was born to Irish immigrants Thomas Michael and Mae (née Joyce) Rabbitt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, and was raised in the nearby community of East Orange, New Jersey. His father was an oil-refinery refrigeration worker, and a skilled fiddle and accordion player, who often entertained in local New York City dance halls. By age 12, Rabbitt was a proficient guitar player, having been taught by his scoutmaster, Bob Scwickrath. During his childhood Rabbitt became a self-proclaimed "walking encyclopedia of country music". After his parents divorced, he dropped out of school at age 16. His mother, Mae, explained that Eddie "was never one for school [because] his head was too full of music." He later obtained a high-school diploma at night school.
Career
Early career
Rabbitt worked as a mental hospital attendant in the late 1950s, but like his father, he fulfilled his love of music by performing at the Six Steps Down club in his hometown. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1964, he signed his first record deal with 20th Century Records and released the singles "Next to the Note" and "Six Nights and Seven Days". Four years later, with $1,000 to his name, Rabbitt moved to Nashville, where he began his career as a songwriter. During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom", which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968. To support himself, Rabbitt worked as a truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker in Nashville. He was ultimately hired as a staff writer for the Hill & Range Publishing Company for $37.50 per week. As a young songwriter, Rabbitt socialized with other aspiring writers at Wally's Clubhouse, a Nashville bar; he said he and the other patrons had "no place else to go."
Rabbitt became successful as a songwriter in 1969, when Elvis Presley recorded his song "Kentucky Rain". The song went gold and cast Rabbitt as one of Nashville's leading young songwriters. Presley also recorded Rabbitt's song "Patch It Up", featured in the concert film "Elvis: That's the Way It Is". And a lesser known Presley song called "Inherit the Wind "on the Album Elvis Back in Memphis. While eating Cap'n Crunch, he penned "Pure Love", which Ronnie Milsap rode to number one in 1974. This song led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records in 1975. His first single under that label, "You Get to Me", made the top 40 that year, and two songs in 1975, "Forgive and Forget" and "I Should Have Married You", nearly made the top 10. These three songs, along with a recording of "Pure Love", were included on Rabbitt's 1975 self-named debut album. In 1976, his critically acclaimed album Rocky Mountain Music was released, which included Rabbitt's first number-one country hit, "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)". In 1977, his third album, Rabbitt, was released, and made the top five on Country Albums chart. Also in 1977, the Academy of Country Music named Rabbitt "Top New Male Vocalist of the Year". By that time, he had a good reputation in Nashville, and was being compared by critics to singer Kris Kristofferson. In 1977, at Knott's Berry Farm, Rabbitt appeared at the Country Music Awards and sang several of his songs from Rocky Mountain Music. He won the Top New Male Vocalist of the Year award.
Crossover success
While still relatively unknown, Rabbitt toured with and opened for crossover star Kenny Rogers, and also for Dolly Parton on a number of dates during her 1978 tour. Following the 1978 release of Variations, which included two more number-one hits, Rabbitt released his first compilation album, The Best of Eddie Rabbitt. It produced Rabbitt's first crossover single, "Every Which Way But Loose", which topped country charts and reached the top 30 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary, and was featured in the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. The song also broke the record for highest chart debut, entering at number 18. Rabbitt held this record until it was shared with Garth Brooks's 2005 single "Good Ride Cowboy." The record was broken in 2006 upon the number-17 chart entrance of Keith Urban's "Once in a Lifetime." Rabbitt's next single, the R&B-flavored "Suspicions" from his 1979 album Loveline, was an even greater crossover success, again reaching number one on Country charts and the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Adult Contemporary charts. He was given his own television special on NBC, first airing on July 10, 1980, which included appearances by such performers as Emmylou Harris and Jerry Lee Lewis. By this point, Rabbitt had been compared to a "young Elvis Presley".
Rabbitt's next album, Horizon, reached platinum status and contained the biggest crossover hits of his career, "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Drivin' My Life Away." Rabbitt developed "Rainy Night" from a song fragment he penned during a 1960s thunderstorm. "Drivin'" recalled Rabbitt's tenure as a truck driver, and was inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". His popularity was so great at this point that he was offered his own variety television show, which he respectfully declined, saying "It's not worth the gamble."
The release of his 1981 Step by Step album continued Rabbitt's crossover success as all three singles reached the top 10 on both Country and Adult Contemporary charts. The title track became Rabbitt's third straight single to reach the top five on the Country, Adult Contemporary, and Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album ultimately reached gold status, Rabbitt's last album to do so. He teamed up with another country pop crossover star, Crystal Gayle, on "You and I", which was included on his 1982 album Radio Romance. The duet reached number one on the Billboard Country chart and became a pop smash, peaking at number seven and number two, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It was used as a love theme for a couple on the soap opera All My Children. The song "You Put the Beat in My Heart" from Rabbitt's second compilation, Greatest Hits - Volume II (1983), was his last crossover hit, reaching number 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Late career
During the 1980s, Rabbitt moved further from crossover-styled music. His 1984 album The Best Year of My Life produced a number-one country hit and three more top-10 country hits, but none had crossover success. The illness and subsequent death of his son put his career on hold following the 1985 RCA Records release Rabbitt Trax, which included the number one "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)", a duet with country pop star Juice Newton. Like "You and I", the song was used as the theme for a soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
Rabbitt returned from his hiatus in 1988 with the release of I Wanna Dance With You, which despite somewhat negative reviews produced two number-one songs, a cover of Dion's "The Wanderer" and the album's title track. Additionally, "We Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" entered the top 10, although the album's final single "That's Why I Fell in Love with You" stalled at number 66. Rabbitt's Capitol Records album Jersey Boy was reviewed positively, as was its single "On Second Thought", Rabbitt's last number-one hit. The album also included "American Boy", a patriotic tune popular during the Gulf War and used in Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was among the many country singers who suffered a dramatic decline in chart success beginning in 1991. That year, he released Ten Rounds, which produced the final charting single of his career, "Hang Up the Phone". Following that release, he left Capitol Records to tour with his band Hare Trigger.
In 1997, Rabbitt signed with Intersound Records, but was soon diagnosed with lung cancer. After a round of chemotherapy, he released the album Beatin' the Odds. In 1998, he released his last studio album, Songs from Rabbittland.
Musical styles
Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale", Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound. Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson with influencing his works. When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk." He remembered listening to albums as a child and hearing "two hits and a bunch of garbage."
Rabbitt believed that country music was "Irish music" and that "the minor chords in [his] music gave it that mystical feel." Although he did not strive to produce pop music, his songs helped influence the direction of country music, leading to the Urban Cowboy era during the 1980s. Critic Harry Sumrall of the San Jose Mercury News said that Rabbitt was "like a hot corn dog: nothing fancy, nothing frilly. You know what you're getting and you like it...never a country purist, Rabbitt nonetheless makes music that is plain and simple, with all of the virtues that make good country good. [His songs] might be brisk, but they are also warm and familiar, like the breeze that wafts in over the fried artichokes."
During the early 1990s, Rabbitt voiced criticism of hip hop music, particularly rap, which he said was sending a negative message to youths. He stated that the music was "inciting a generation" and that it had helped to contribute to the high rates of teenaged pregnancy, high-school dropouts, and rapes during this period.
Personal life
When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt said he had "an affinity for animals" and kept the bird for a while before giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt had a pet monkey, Jojo. Before his Rocky Mountain Music tour, the monkey bit Rabbitt, leaving his right arm in bandages.
In 1976, Rabbitt married Janine Girardi, whom he called "a little thing about five feet tall, with long, black beautiful hair, and a real pretty face." He had previously written the songs "Pure Love" and "Sweet Janine" for her. They had three children, Demelza, Timmy, and Tommy. Timmy was diagnosed with biliary atresia upon birth. The condition required a liver transplant for survival and he underwent one in 1985, but the attempt failed and he died. Rabbitt temporarily put his career on hiatus, saying, "I didn't want to be out of the music business, but where I was more important." Tommy was born in 1986.
Rabbitt felt his responsibility as an entertainer was to be a good role model and he was an advocate for many charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation, of which he served as honorary chairman. He also worked as a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy.
Rabbitt was a registered Republican and let Bob Dole use his song "American Boy" during Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Rabbitt was also a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation and visited the set during the show's fifth season in 1991–92.
Death
Rabbitt, a longtime smoker, died on May 7, 1998, in Nashville from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville on May 8, 1998.
No media outlets reported the death until after the burial at the family's request. The news came as a surprise to many in Nashville, including the performer's agent, who "had no idea Eddie was terminal" and had talked to him often, remarking that Rabbitt "was always upbeat and cheerful" in the final months of his life. Although he was widely believed to have been born in 1944 (this year can still be found in older publications and texts), at the time of his death, he was revealed to have been born in 1941.
Awards
Discography
References
External links
Eddie Rabbitt at CMT.com
Family Ties - People.com Archives
Eddie Rabbitt Did the 'roadie' Theme for a Reason: He's the Groupies' New Fantasy Figure - People.com Archives
1941 births
1998 deaths
American country singer-songwriters
American people of Irish descent
American male singer-songwriters
Deaths from cancer in Tennessee
Deaths from lung cancer
Elektra Records artists
Musicians from Brooklyn
RCA Records Nashville artists
20th-century American singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Country musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male singers
New York (state) Republicans | true | [
"James Nyx Jr. (May 3, 1914 – July 16, 1998), sometimes credited as James Nyx, was an American songwriter for the Motown label. He co-wrote \"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)\", which became a #9 hit for Marvin Gaye in 1971.\n\nNyx was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but moved to Detroit in the 1930s, where he married twice and raised a family of eight children. He supported them through jobs requiring menial labor. At one time he was a resident of the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, where notable figures such as Diana Ross grew up.\n\nHis start in the music business was working as a janitor and handyman for Tri-Phi/Harvey Records, which was owned by the husband and wife team of Harvey Fuqua and Gwen Gordy Fuqua, sister of Berry Gordy.\n\nHe began to bring lyric ideas to Harvey, who collaborated with him on a few songs, including 1961's \"Grieving About A Love,\" recorded by Lorri Rudolph. and 1963's \"What Can You Do Now\" recorded by Harvey and Ann.\n\nWhen Fuqua sold his labels to Motown Records in 1963, Nyx came along, signing to Jobete Music as a songwriter, but also working as a janitor and an elevator operator. He continued to write with Fuqua, and also Marvin Gaye, but most of his early songwriting work was shelved.\n\nIn July 1970, Gaye produced a song for The Originals, a Gaye/Nyx composition called \"We Can Make It Baby.\"\n\nNyx's real breakthrough came a year later, when Gaye needed collaborators to help with lyrics for his next project, the sessions that became the landmark album \"What's Going On.\"\n\nNyx co-wrote three tracks on the album, \"What's Happening Brother,\" \"God Is Love,\" and most famously, \"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).\"\n\nMotown left Detroit the following year, but Nyx did not go with them. He stayed and continued writing songs for a Detroit company named KellGriff Music. One such effort, 1974's \"Outta My Life/I'm One Who Know\" by the Brewster Crew on Lifeline records (T. Rodgers/J. Nyx Jr.) was arranged by David Van De Pitte, who famously did the orchestrations for \"What's Going On.\"\n\nIn the 1990s, it became popular for samples of \"Inner City Blues\" to be used on R&B and rap records, providing Nyx with royalty income.\n\nReferences\n\nMotown artists\nSongwriters from Indiana\nMusicians from Indianapolis\n1914 births\n1998 deaths\n20th-century American composers\nJanitors",
"Bumper Offer is a 2009 Telugu film action comedy romance film directed by Jaya Ravindra. The film stars Sairam Shankar and Bindu Madhavi in the lead roles. The music of the film was composed by Raghu Kunche. The film released on 23 October 2009. Puri Jagannadh produced this film apart from writing the story and the dialogues. The movie was a commercial success. The film was remade in Bengali as Loveria and in Bengali Bangladesh in 2022 as Shoshurbari Zindabad 2 starring Bappy Chowdhury, Apu Biswas, Sadek Bachchu and Afzal Sharif.\n\nPlot\nSai (Sairam Shankar) completes his education and wastes his time. He refuses to marry as her mother Ramanamma (Kovai Sarala) wanted to put some responsibility on him. Sai\"s father Rao is a clerk with a real estate firm run by Surya Prakash (Sayaji Shinde).\n\nOnce, Surya Prakash\"s daughter Aiswarya (Bindu Madhavi) breaks the leg of Sai mistaking him to be someone who tried to tease her. This makes him lose his heart to Aiswarya. After a few turn of events, Aiswarya too falls flat for Sai. But this irks Surya Prakash who tried to thrash both Rao and Sai black and blue. Aiswarya reaches the spot and warns that she would shoot herself if any harm is done to them.\nSurya Prakash budges to the situation and gives an offer to Sai to earn at least five per cent value of his assets and marry Aiswarya. But the latter refuses the offer saying that he is giving another bumper offer to Surya Prakash that he would make him lose his entire property and assets and pull him down to the earth and make him equal to their family to catch the hand of Aiswarya.\n\nWhat plans did Sai make to make Surya Prakash bankrupt? What happens to the love between Sai and Aiswarya? Who is Mallikarjun and what kind of help or harm did he do to Sai? Did Sai emerge victorious in teaching a lesson to Surya Prakash? Answers to all these questions form part of the climax.\n\nCast\n\n Sairam Shankar as Sai\n Bindu Madhavi as Aishwarya\n Sayaji Shinde as Surya Prakash, Aishwarya's father\n Rani as Aishwarya's mother\n Brahmanandam as Viswanath\n Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam\n MS Narayana\n Ali as Bhairava\n Kovai Sarala as Ramanamma, Sai's mother\n Chandra Mohan as Rao, Sai's father\n Jaya Prakash Reddy\n Venu Madhav as Mitravinda\n Supreeth as Mallikharjun\n Khayyum as Khayyum, Sai's friend\n Shankar Melkote as Doctor\n Gundu Sudarshan\n Master Bharath\n Sravan\n Anand\n Vamsi\n Chinna\n Kiranmayi\n Chaitanya\n\nSoundtrack\n\nMusic of the film was launched at a function organized in Prasad Labs on the night of 11 September 2009.\n\nRaghu Kunche composed the music. making his debut as a music director. He won the Nandi Special Jury Award for Music Director in the year 2009.\n\nAwards\nRaghu Kunche won Nandi Special Jury Award for Best Singer - \"Enduke Ramanamma\" Song\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nSee also\n Telugu films of 2009\n\n2009 films\nIndian films\nTelugu-language films\nTelugu films remade in other languages\n2000s Telugu-language films\nIndian action comedy films\n2009 action comedy films"
]
|
[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities"
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | What is Activites about? | 1 | What is Algonquin Round Table about? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | true | [
"The High Commission of India in Nicosia is the diplomatic mission of India to Cyprus. The high commissioner is Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat. India doesn't recognise the Northern Cyprus, and instead uses its mission to cover the range in its jurisdction.\n\nActivites and events\nVarious activities are organised as well. The embassy offers educational programs and schoarships for the diasporan community.\n\nSee also\n Cyprus–India relations\n Foreign relations of Cyprus\n Foreign relations of India\n List of diplomatic missions in Cyprus\n List of diplomatic missions of India\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC)\n\nCyprus\nIndia\nCyprus–India relations\nBuildings and structures in Nicosia",
"The Science Advisory Board (SAB) is a United States group of independent scientists selected by the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The board provides advice to the agency on the scientific and technical aspects of environmental problems and issues. Upon a request by the Administrator, the board reviews the scientific aspects of any reports or other written products prepared by the agency. Congress established the board in the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978.\n\nUnder Administrator Lee M. Thomas, the board conducted risk prioritization studies. His successor, William K. Reilly, commissioned the board to do a “reducing risk report” to inform what significant risk areas the EPA wasn’t addressing adequately.\n\nThe activities of the SAB are subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The SAB publishes a list of ongoing and completed advisory activities. Announcements about new SAB activites, formation of review panels and committees, and public meetings are published in the Federal Register.\n\nSee also \n Scientific Advisory Panel - Advisors to EPA's pesticide program\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nUnited States Environmental Protection Agency"
]
|
[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities",
"What is Activites about?",
"In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker."
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | What is the activity of the Round table? | 2 | Besides games, what is the activity of the Algonquin Round Table? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | true | [
"The Round Table Family organisation is a group of social networking and charitable clubs that together form a worldwide movement of tens of thousands of people.\n\nRound Table\n\nFounded in 1927. Open to men aged 18-45 in Great Britain and Ireland (18-40 in most of the world).\n\nLadies Circle\n\nFounded in 1932. Open to women aged 18-45. Ladies Circle is a social networking organisation for young women aged between 18 and 45, founded in 1932. It aims to promote friendship through social contact at local, national and international level and to be of service to the community. For many years Circlers were the wives or partners of members of Round Table, but in 1993 the rules were changed and Ladies' Circle is now open to any woman in the age range 18 - 45, and whilst Ladies' Circle work very closely with Round Table on many issues, both business and social, they are a totally independent organisation. The club is affiliated to Ladies Circle International.\n\n41 Club\n\nFounded in 1945. Open to current or former Round Tablers over 40. The full name is \"The Association of Ex-Round Tablers’ Clubs\". This club specialises in continuing the friendships made in Round Table. The philosophy of the club is very similar to that of Round Table, but it is often less ‘active’ and in many cases clubs meet less often. The Club's main purpose is to support Round Table and, if possible, participate in local community service initiatives or charity work. However the ‘continued friendship’ and ‘fellowship’ aspect is of great importance. Most clubs meet monthly, often in a public house, golf club or restaurant. Meetings are usually semi-formal with either an activity or a speaker to entertain. Lifelong friendships are often made in 41 Club. To join 41 Club it is a requirement to be a present or former member of Round Table. 41 Club is affiliated to 41 International.\n\nTangent\n\nFounded 1953. Open to women over 45. The National Association of Tangent Clubs is an organisation for women, mainly aged over 45, with a focus on making friends and enjoying a programme of interesting and fun activities, eating out, theatre, walks as well as sometimes supporting local and national causes through fundraising events. The UK club has links with Tangent Clubs across the world and are part of Tangent Club International.\n\nRelated clubs \n Table Plus. Part of the 41 Club. Open to men aged 45-60.\n Tangle. Part of Tangent. Open to women aged 45-60.\n Agora Club International A second international arm of Tangent.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Round Table\n Ladies Circle - The National Association of Ladies Circles of Great Britain and Ireland\n 41 Club - The Association of Ex-Round Tablers' Clubs\n 41 Club International\n Tangent - National Association of Tangent Clubs\n Agora - Agora Club International\n\nClubs and societies in the United Kingdom",
"A Round Table was a festive event during the Middle Ages that involved jousting, feasting, and dancing in imitation of King Arthur's legendary court. Named for Arthur's famed Round Table, the festivals generally involved jousts with blunted weapons, and often celebrated weddings or victories. In some cases participants dressed in the costume of such well-known knights as Lancelot, Tristan, and Palamedes.\n\nHistory \nThe earliest Round Table was recorded in 1223, when the Crusader lord of Beirut held one in Cyprus to celebrate the knighting of his eldest sons. Round Tables were popular in various European countries through the rest of the Middle Ages and were at times very elaborate.\n\nRound Tables in England\n\nEdward I held one on the occasion of his marriage, and one in 1284 to celebrate his conquest of Wales; and is recorded as sponsoring several as late as 1304. One artefact that has survived from this fashion in England is the \"Winchester Round Table\" in the Great Hall at Winchester Castle. The timber of this table has been dated by dendrochronology to 1275, during Edward's reign, though a royal provenance is not proven so far. The present \"Winchester Round Table\" was painted in 1522 by order of King Henry VIII. The places at the table are divided up with alternating green and white panels with the name of Arthurian knights written in gold. However it is King Henry VIII's portrait that is painted at King Arthur's place, and the Tudor red rose that adorns the table's centre. \n\nEdward III held a tournament and feast at Windsor in 1344 and built a huge round structure to house it. The details of its use are obscure. However, it is believed that he intended to found an order of knighthood named after the Round Table and modelled on the fellowship of King Arthur; in the event, in 1348, the order he established was named after the Garter.\n\nRound Tables elsewhere in Europe\nRound Tables were an aristocratic activity throughout Europe from the 13th until the 15th centuries, being recorded in France from 1235 to 1332. In Aragon they were held as early as 1269 in Valencia and as late as 1291 in Catalonia. According to Roger Sherman Loomis, \"Popes and prelates thundered against these costly, dangerous, and sometimes licentious frivolities, and denied Christian burial to those who took part.\" Even the middle classes were caught up in this spectacle. \n\nIn 1281, a burgher of Magdeburg announced a Round Table in that town. Another was set up by the burghers of Tournai in 1330. René of Anjou, the King of Naples, even erected an Arthurian castle for his 1446 Round Table. \n\nIn 1507 and 1508 James IV of Scotland held a tournament of the Wild Knight and the Black Lady at Edinburgh that was said to \"counterfeit the round table of King Arthur\". In 1566, Mary, Queen of Scots gave a feast in Stirling Castle with 30 guests at an imagined replica of Arthur's table during the masque-themed celebrations of the baptism of the future James VI.\n\nReferences\n\nArthurian legend\nCompetitions"
]
|
[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities",
"What is Activites about?",
"In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"What is the activity of the Round table?",
"The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker."
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | what are the department of Round tables? | 3 | What are the departments of Algonquin Round Table? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | false | [
"A duplicate bridge movement is a scheme used in a duplicate bridge session to arrange which competitors play which opponents when, and which boards they play. The arrangement has to satisfy various constraints which often conflict to some extent, requiring compromises. The resolution of these compromises is to a considerable extent a matter of taste, so players should be consulted as to their preferences if this is practicable.\n\nMovements are categorized by the type of event—Individual, Pairs, or Teams.\n\nRequirements for Duplicate Bridge Movements\n\nThree absolute requirements for a Bridge movement are universal.\n\n1. No entrant (individual, pair, or team, depending upon the type of the event) may play the same deal more than once.\n\n2. The number of deals in each session must be appropriate to the level of competition and the circumstances.\n\n3. The movement must provide enough stationary or nearly stationary positions to accommodate the needs of all players who have disabilities and/or mobility impairments.\n\nA sanctioning body may impose additional requirements as a condition of sanctioning or recognizing an event. For example, the English Bridge Union (EBU) now requires that each entrant be \"scheduled to play\" at least 70% of the deals in play in each session in an individual or pairs game, which, practically means that the number of rounds must be at least 70% of the number of groups of boards in play. The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) likewise requires at least 2 1/2 tables for a sanctioned standard pairs game, even though there is a valid movement for such a game, while permitting two tables to play an individual game with a \"One Winner\" Movement or a team matches.\n\nWith respect to the second universal requirement, a typical \"open\" (unrestricted) session at a club or tournament in North America consists of about 25-28 boards (deals) except when 24 deals produces a complete movement (that is, with six, eight, or twelve tables playing some form of complete Mitchell movement as described below), but this may vary in other regions. Of course, a club may choose to play fewer deals in a session connected with a luncheon, party, or some other event or to ensure that an evening session ends at a reasonable hour for players who must go to work on the next day, and sessions on cruise ships also typically are shorter (about 18-20 deals). Sessions for less experienced players also typically consist of fewer deals and, conversely, sessions of some championship events may play more deals.\n\nThat said, there are several criteria that are desirable in Bridge movements.\n\n It is desirable for each table to play a separate group of boards in each round, unless there are enough copies of the groups played simultaneously for each table to have its own copy. Nevertheless, some movements frequently chosen for reasons of fairness do require two adjacent tables to play the same group of boards in each round.\n\n In matchpoint scoring, all boards ideally should be played the same number of times so they all carry the same weight and influence in the final standing.\n\n Two entrants normally should not play against one another (as opponents the same table) or, in an individual event, come together as partners in more than one round, except when players in an individual event change directions and thus must play against each other twice (with different partners, and ideally on opposite sides—that is, once as right-hand opponent and once as left-hand opponent) to form a complete movement.\n\n The number of boards per round must be reasonable. In standard matchpoint games and in \"board-a-match\" team games, two boards per round is the practical minimum and four to five boards per round normally is the desirable maximum. In standard team games other than \"board-a-match\" competition, six boards per match is the normal minimum and twenty-four boards per match is the normal maximum for open events.\n\n If there is an odd number of entrants in an individual or pair game, such that entrants must take turns sitting out round due to lack of a full table, it is highly desirable to minimize the number boards per round, and thus the time that the affected entrants must wait for the start of the next round. When there is no sit-out, the decision to play more rounds of fewer boards or fewer rounds of more boards is solely a matter of preference.\n\n It is generally thought to be desirable that all entrants play all of the deals that are in play.\n\n The movement should be as fair as possible, as discussed below.\n\n If there is a break for lunch or any other reason in the middle of a session, it is desirable to arrange the movement so all tables play one subset of the deals before the break and another subset of the deals after the break to ensure that any discussion of deals during the break won't compromise the deals in play after the break.\n\n Subject to the other constraints, the movement should be as simple as possible to minimize the possibility of errors such as players going to the wrong table, players sitting in the wrong direction at a table, or the players at a table playing the wrong group of boards. This applies to the movement of boards as well as to the movement of players.\n\nThe preferences of a particular club or tournament organizer may dictate other constraints. Here are some examples of organizers' preferences that might affect the choice of movement.\n\n Some organizers may prefer to divide the tables of a session into flights for players of different ranking or experience levels with the flights playing in separate sections and scored separately. This choice typically requires a different movement for each section to accommodate differences in size of the sections and possibly also in the number of boards that the various levels of players might play. Other organizers may prefer to have players of all rankings or abilities play together in the same section(s).\n\n Some organizers may prefer to split larger events or flights into several sections that play fewer rounds with more boards per round, finding that the game progresses more quickly with fewer rotations. Other organizers may prefer to form larger sections that play more rounds with fewer boards per round, giving each entrant an opportunity to play against more of the other entrants.\n\n In larger events or flights, some organizers may prefer to rank all entrants into one comparison field to produce a single winner while other organizers may prefer to have multiple comparison fields with a separate winner for each comparison field. In events or flights with more than one section, there are several variations of these options—a separate comparison field for each direction within each flight, a single comparison field in each direction across multiple sections, a single comparison field across both directions within each section with section, or a single comparison field encompassing all entrants in the entire event.\n\nIn the absence of explicit requirements dictated by the nature of a particular competition, these considerations are completely discretionary.\n\nFairness of Bridge movements \n\nThere are several considerations in determining the fairness of a Bridge movement.\n\n A complete movement, in which each entrant plays against all of the other entrants or in which all entrants in each scoring field play against all of the same field of opponents, is inherently the fairest choice. The worst scenario is a movement that is one round short of complete: one entrant does not play against a very strong competitor, thus gaining a significant advantage, while another entrant does not play against a very weak competitor, thus incurring a significant disadvantage. When a movement is several rounds short of complete, averaging tends to take over—each competitor misses both weaker and stronger opponents, diminishing the effect. It is possible to diminish this impact further by \"seeding\" the field—that is, by dispersing entrants with higher and lower rankings or ability uniformly throughout the field.\n\n Ideally, each entrant should have equal influence on the results of each of the other entrants, at least within each scoring field, taking into account the relative positions in which the entrants play each deal—direct opposition (at the same table), indirect opposition (in the same direction at different tables, thus generating direct comparisons), teaming (in opposing directions at different tables), and, in individual movements, partnership (opposite seats at the same table). Mathematical analysis of standard matchpoint scoring has derived the weight of opposition in the following table based upon the impact of a hypothetical entrant getting either extreme (clear top or clear bottom) scores on all deals compared to a hypothetical entrant getting average scores on all deals. Positive weights means that the entrants are adversaries (an abnormally good result by either hurts the other) and negative weights mean that the entrants are effectively teammates -- that is, an abnormally good result by either helps the other. The term \"scoring unit\" is that of Law 78A of the Laws of Duplicate Bridge.\n\n When there is more than one scoring field in an event or a flight, all scoring fields should have entrants of comparable ability or ranking so that all competitors face competition that's approximately the same strength. In individual and pair events, this extends to each direction of each section when using movements in which each competitor always sits in the same direction. This is usually achieved by \"seeding\" -- that is, distributing stronger and weaker pairs uniformly throughout the field.\n\n Vulnerability affects the fairness of a game scored either by Total Points or by International Matchpoints (IMPs) because a pair that is vulnerable receives more points (raw Bridge score) than a pair that's not vulnerable for making the same number of tricks in any game or slam contract while giving up more points for failing to make any contract. These higher scores for the same Bridge result also translate to more IMPs for the same pair of different Bridge results in IMP scoring. When scoring by either of these methods, all pairs should be vulnerable on an equal number of deals—a condition most easily met by playing four boards per round since all regular groups of four boards (1–4, 5–8, etc.) have one board with each combination of vulnerability (none, North–South only, East–West only, and both), ensuring that each partnership is vulnerable on two deals and not vulnerable on the other two deals. Some movements that do not meet this criterion have very bad imbalances of vulnerability. This issue does not apply to standard Matchpoint scoring because all boards award an equal number of matchpoints in each direction regardless of vulnerability.\n\nWhen scoring multiple sessions as a single event, these criteria apply to the aggregate of all sessions of the event rather than to individual sessions, with the caveat that they apply separately to rounds before and rounds after any elimination of entrants.\n\nBarometer games and online bridge movements \n\nThe term \"barometer game\" refers to any session in which all tables play the same group of deals concurrently in each round, permitting publication of meaningful standings after completion of each round. The term comes from the practice of displaying standings upon completion of each round, and sometimes upon completion of each board, with competitors moving up and down like a barometer. Although people sometimes say \"Barometer Movement\" in reference to any movement used in a barometer game, there really is no specific movement by that name. Rather, a barometer game can use any of the movements for individual or pair games described below, but with each table playing the groups of boards in order from first to last rather than as indicated in the tables.\n\nA barometer game is most practical for instructional situations in which it is desirable to discuss the bidding and play immediately after the participants play each deal or perhaps at the end of each round. When running a barometer game, it is best to provide a separate set of boards for each table—especially if the game is large enough to play only two boards per round. If a barometer game is small enough to play three or more boards per round, some sharing becomes possible–but this obviously requires deferral of discussion of deals until the end of the respective round.\n\nIn online bridge, barometer games are more practical because the same boards can be easily generated and displayed at every separate table without needing large numbers of separate packs of cards, and this is standard practice on common online bridge platforms such as BridgeBase Online (BBO) or RealBridge. This in fact greatly simplifies bridge movements. In traditional movements such as the Mitchell and Howell movements, both players and boards circulate continuously in different ways, and considerable ingenuity is needed to avoid conflicts and ensure that a pair does not play the same boards twice. In a barometer movement all players play the same boards simultaneously, and all that is required is to rotate the players. In pairs games, either two-winner movements or one-winner movements with arrow switching are easily performed. Head-to-head teams matches and multiple teams events with an even number of teams are also straightforward. Multiple teams events with odd numbers of teams are trickier; either one team has to sit out each round, or some boards have to be played at different times to give the effect of a \"long triple\".\n\nBarometer games are also used in Swiss Pairs competitions.\n\nMovements for pair games\n\nIn a pair game, players enter as pairs that play as partners throughout and score as a unit. The two most prevalent types of pair movements in Bridge are Mitchell Movements and Howell Movements, though Howell Movements actually are a specific subset of One Winner Movements. Normal Mitchell Movements have separate fields of North-South pairs and East-West pairs, so they have usually have separate rankings and winners in each direction, whereas One Winner Movements typically have some pairs play in some rounds in each direction, requiring all pairs to score in a single field that produces just one winner—hence the name. One Winner are typically used for games with only a few tables because they permit play of more rounds than Normal Mitchell Movements, which limit the number of rounds to the number of tables. A Mitchell movement can be converted to a one-winner movement by arrow switching.\n\nMitchell Movement (or \"Two Winner\" Movements)\n\nThe Mitchell Movement, first developed by John Templeton Mitchell and also called the \"Two Winner\" Movement, has two fields of entrants. The entrants in one field always sit North–South while the entrants in the other field always sit East–West in the same section, so the entrants in each field play only against entrants in the other field. The entrants in each field score and place separately, so there is a winner in each field. Pairs are identified by the number of the table where they start and their direction of play (for example, Pair 3 North–South or Pair 5 East–West). The pairs seated North-South typically remain at the same table through every round of play, while groups of boards and East–West pairs go to different tables at the end of each round.\n\nIn a complete Mitchell Movement, the number of rounds is equal to both the number of tables and the number of groups of boards actually played during the session, so all of the pairs seated in each direction play one round against each of the pairs seated in the other direction and all pairs play all of the boards that are in play, making it one of the fairest movements in Bridge. The total weight of opposition for any North–South pair and any East–West pair is zero (0) for every complete Mitchell Movement because the number of comparisons for each deal that they play in direct opposition is exactly equal to the number of rounds in which they play in opposite directions at different tables, and all pairs in the same field have the same weight of opposition because they play every deal in the same direction.\n\nMitchell Movements that are not complete (that is, in which the number of rounds is less than the number of tables) are very popular because they are the easiest movements to run for events with a lot of tables, but the weight of opposition is considerably messier and typically very imbalanced—(1) players seated in the same direction do not play all of the same deals in many Mitchell Movements, and thus have different weight of opposition, (2) pairs who play in direct opposition typically play more or fewer of the same board groups, resulting in different weight of opposition, and (3) pairs seated in opposite directions that do not oppose each other constructively become teammates. The Web Movement and Double Web Movement, described below, eliminate the first two of these issues but amplify the third.\n\nIn larger events, directors often split the entrants into two or more sections that play separately. When there is more than one section, each section may have its own North-South and East-West scoring fields or, if all sections play the same deals, the directors may combine the North-South and East-West fields across all sections for scoring. The latter practice actually exacerbates the imbalance in weight of opposition of an incomplete movement because it amplifies the weight of direct opposition while rendering pairs playing in opposite directions of different fields as constructive teammates for the entire session. With each section having separate fields, the entrants in different sections have no weight of opposition on each others' results.\n\nA few movements derived from true Mitchell Movements have one or more entrants that play some deals in both directions. Such movements really are not Mitchell Movements even though they typically retain the word \"Mitchell\" in their names, so they are described in the section on \"One Winner\" movements below.\n\nBasic Mitchell Movement Movement (or Standard Mitchell Movement or Straight Mitchell Movement) \n\nThe Basic Mitchell Movement, also known as the Standard Mitchell Movement or the Straight Mitchell Movement, is the simplest Mitchell Movement. At the end of each round, the pairs sitting East–West move up one table, with the pair that's leaving the last table going to the first table, and the boards (deals) move down one table, with boards leaving the first table going to the last table. The first group of boards normally starts at Table #1, the second group at Table #2, etc., so the North–South pairs play consecutive groups of boards in ascending order and consecutive East–West pairs in descending order while the East–West players play alternate groups of boards and consecutive North-South pairs, both in ascending order, as the movement progresses. The table below shows the East–West pair (EW) and the board group (BG) at each table in a Basic Mitchell Movement for five tables with five rounds of play.\n\nThe tables for movements in this article use letters to designate the groups of boards in play at each table because the specific boards in each group depend upon the number of deals in each round, as shown in the following table. A normal session of an open event would play 25 boards with this movement, while events for less experienced players typically would play fewer boards and a championship event for experts could play more—but the movement also can run with more or fewer boards if it is desirable to hold a shorter or longer game for some other reason.\n\nIn its normal form illustrated above, the Straight Mitchell Movement requires an odd number of tables so that the East–West pairs interleave with the boards that they have already played when they reach the midpoint of the movement. With an even number of tables, the East–West pairs would meet boards that they played in the first round at the midpoint of a complete movement, requiring a variant of the movement. The most common variants for an even number of tables, both discussed below, are the Skip Mitchell Movement, used when the number of tables does not allow a complete movement, and the Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement, also called the Relay and Share Mitchell Movement in the United Kingdom, for a complete movement. However, this restriction does not apply to the \"Barometer\" form of the movement in which all tables play the same deals in each round, as illustrated in the following table.\n\nWhen there is an odd number of pairs, the most common practice is to add a phantom pair to complete the final table. Thus, a game with seventeen pairs uses a movement for nine tables with one position vacant. The phantom pair, which may be in either direction, progresses in the same manner as the missing actual pair. The pairs playing in the opposite direction \"sit out\" when scheduled to play the phantom pair, so they do not play the respective deals (boards). The Rover Mitchell Movement and Two-Way Rover Mitchell Movement, both described below, in which the odd pair displaces a different pair each round with the displaced pair sitting out, are alternative options in this situation.\n\nSkip Mitchell Movement \n\nThe Skip Mitchell Movement is the simplest Mitchell movement for an even number of tables. In its simplest form, the East-West pairs move up two tables at the midpoint of the (complete) movement, when they otherwise would encounter the deals (boards) that they played in the first round. The boards that they play after the skip to interleave with the boards that they played before the skip with normal movement thereafter, as in the Straight Mitchell Movement. However, the skip limits the number of rounds to one less than the number of tables so the movement cannot be complete. Thus, a Skip Mitchell is normally preferred only when the number of tables makes a complete movement impracticable. The following table shows a Skip Mitchell movement for ten tables playing nine rounds. Note that one more rotation would bring the East–West pairs back to their starting tables and to their opponents in the first round.\n\nThe Skip Mitchell Movement provides a simple vehicle to accommodate players who arrive after a Standard Mitchell Movement or a Skip Mitchell Movement is set. The director need only place additional board groups on the additional tables and add or remove the skip, depending upon whether the number of tables becomes even or odd.\n\nRelay and Bye Stand Mitchell (or Share and Relay Mitchell) \n\nThe Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell, also called a Share and Relay Mitchell in the United Kingdom, modifies the board sequencing of a standard Mitchell movement so that each East–West pair plays the even groups of boards on one side of the movement and odd board groups on the other side of the movement, permitting a complete movement with an even number of tables. To make this happen, two consecutive tables play the same group of boards in each round throughout the session while the opposite group of boards sits out of play on a table or stand between the tables directly opposite the tables that are playing the same deals—and it is here that regional differences in terminology may be a source of confusion.\n\n In the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), the two tables sharing boards are called a \"relay\" and the stand that holds the boards that are out of play is called a \"bye stand.\"\n But in the English Bridge Union (EBU), the two tables sharing boards are called a \"share\" and the stand that holds the boards that are out of play is called a \"relay.\"\n\nThe following table shows a Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell for eight tables with Table 2 and Table 3 sharing one group of boards and the bye stand between Table 6 and Table 7 (which, with eight tables, are directly opposite Table 2 and Table 3, respectively, in the rotation).\n\nPhysical sharing of boards can slow down the progress of the game, especially when playing only two or three boards per round, and many players find the physical exchange of boards to be an inconvenience. With electronic scoring, it also increases the risk that players may forget to override the default board numbers supplied by the scoring system and thus cross the results for the boards in each group. There are three remedies for this.\n\n With an odd number of pairs, the director can position the phantom pair North–South at one of the tables that would share boards, creating a sit-out for East–West pairs at that table. The boards simply skip the phantom's table in the movement cycle.\n\n In an event with two identical sections, the director can position the pairs of tables sharing boards at opposite points in the movements so that one of the tables that is logically sharing boards in each section can use the boards that would otherwise be on the other section's bye stand.\n\n If a modern board duplicating machine is available, the director can duplicate an additional set of boards for one of the two tables that are playing the same deals. With two tables sharing boards in more than one section, the director can position the tables sharing boards in different locations in the respective movements so they can use boards from just one additional set.\n\nEach of these options creates a more pleasant experience for the players while reducing the risk of scoring errors.\n\nWhen using two sets of boards, some directors prefer to have each set of boards played at about half of the tables that are not part of the share so that there are valid comparisons on any boards discovered to have been misdealt.\n\n One option is to use a separate set of boards on each side of the movement, as demarked by the relay and bye stand (or share and relay). In the example movement above, Tables 1, 2, 7, and 8 would use one set of boards, with boards entering at Table 2 and exiting at Table 7, and Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6 would use the other, with boards entering at Table 6 and exiting at Table 3. The remaining boards of each set usually are placed on stands next to the table where they will enter. During the round before the midpoint of the movement (Round 4 in the example), the director brings the boards that have exited on each side to the stand next to the table where they will reenter later in the session.\n\n Another option is to have one set of boards enter at the table with the lower number of the two tables that play the same deals in each round (or at the table with the highest number if it plays the same deals as Table 1) and retire the other set of boards after play at the table with the higher number of the two tables that play the same deals in each round (or Table 1 if it plays the same deals as the table with the highest number). In the above example, one set of boards would enter at Table 2 and the other set of boards would be retired after Table 3 plays them.\n\nThe first of these options is generally preferable when both board sets are available at the start of the session, as it provides an equal number of plays of each version of any misdealt board. However, the latter option allows the director to complete duplication of the second set of boards after play has started.\n\nCrisscross Mitchell Movement (or Double Weave Mitchell Movement) \n\nThe Crisscross Mitchell Movement alters the movement of players and boards in a Standard Mitchell Movement to permit a complete movement without a relay and bye stand (or share and relay) if the number of tables is a multiple of four (4). This movement is used most commonly with eight or twelve tables, but it also can be used with four or sixteen tables.\n\n The even-numbered East–West pairs and the odd-numbered East–West pairs move in contrary directions, so that pairs moving up trade places (\"crisscross\") with pairs at the next higher table moving down at the end of each round.\n\n The boards move in the opposite direction from the East–West pairs leaving each table, thus crisscrossing on the other sides of the tables, except at the midpoint of the movement when the boards go to the opposite table in the movement (also a crisscross) and reverse direction.\n\nThus, the odd East-West pairs play the odd board groups in the first half of the movement and the even board groups in the second half of the movement while the even East-West pairs do the reverse.\n\nThe following table shows a Crisscross Mitchell Movement for eight tables. In this example, the odd East-West pairs move down while the even East-West pairs move up.\n\nNote that the Crisscross Mitchell Movement has the same set-up as a Straight Mitchell Movement with one additional table. Thus, the director can add a table to accommodate players who arrive after the movement has been set or, conversely, can retreat to this movement after setting a Straight Mitchell Movement for one additional table if players who are running late fail to show or if a pair scheduled to have the first sit-out decides to withdraw.\n\nAmerican Whist League (AWL) Movement \n\nThe American Whist League (AWL) Movement is a variation of the Standard Mitchell Movement in which the East-West pairs move down two tables rather than up one table. The boards still move down one table. This movement requires that the number of tables be odd. The following table shows the AWL Movement for five tables.\n\nAlthough legal, the American Whist League Movement is seldom used in pairs games because it offers no advantage whatsoever over a Standard Mitchell Movement, which runs more smoothly because players are accustomed to it. Rather, stripped of the first round, the AWL Movement finds its niche in team competitions, such as multiple teams events or \"Board-a-Match\" (BAM), as discussed below. Note that the numbers of the North–South pair (table) and the East–West pair playing each group of boards in Round 2 and Round 5 are reversed, and the same is true of the numbers of the North–South pair (table) and the East–West pair playing each group of boards in Round 3 and Round 4. In BAM competition, the North-South and East-West pairs with the same number are the two partnerships of the respective team.\n\nTwo Stanza Mitchell Movement \n\nA Two Stanza Mitchell Movement is a movement configured for a break, which could be for lunch, for a presentation of some award or recognition, for election of club officers or transaction of club business requiring discussion and vote of the membership, or for some other purpose, at the midpoint of the session. In this situation, it is best to have all entrants play approximately the first half of the deals before the break, constituting the first stanza, and the remaining deals after the break, constituting the second stanza, so that there is no potential for discussion of deals during the break to compromise the play of any deals in the remaining rounds. The following table shows a Two Stanza Mitchell Movement for six tables with a break after the third round. The players and boards move in the normal manner for a Mitchell movement, except that all boards played in the first stanza go out of play and new boards come into play at the break. Note that this movement works best with enough copies of the boards so to eliminate physical sharing.\n\nThe pattern of movement shown in this example will work for any even number of tables that is not a multiple of four, provided that the number of rounds is equal to the number of tables. Another option, for any even number of tables, is to use the American Whist League (AWL) movement, described above, within each stanza with East-West pairs moving just one table, either up or down, at the break. Alternatively, there are specific movement patterns for eight tables and twelve tables.\n\n>> With eight tables, all East–West pairs move up two tables after each round except at the midpoint, when they move up just one table. Thus, the odd-numbered East–West pairs visit the odd-numbered tables in the first stanza and the even-numbered tables in the second stanza while the even-numbered East-West pairs do the reverse.\n\n>> With twelve tables, all East–West pairs move normally (that is, up one table after each round) except after Round 3 and Round 9, when they move up four (4) tables. For the East–West pairs, the tables skipped after Round 3 are the tables played in the last three rounds and the tables skipped after Round 9 are the tables played in the first three rounds.\n\nIt is also possible to use the Double Web Movement, described below, to accommodate any number of tables. However, the Double Web Movement requires that the break be either one round before or one round after the exact midpoint of the movement (that is, after either Round 3 or Round 5 if the movement is eight rounds or after either Round 5 or Round 7 if the movement is twelve rounds).\n\nIt is also possible to configure a Mitchell Movement with more than two stanzas to accommodate more than one break during a session, if circumstances require this.\n\nScissors Mitchell Movement \n\nThe Scissors Mitchell Movement is an interesting creature. The movement begins like a Standard Mitchell Movement, but it has two scissors rounds where each board group is split in half. In the first scissors round, which must be in the first half of the movement, each table plays one half of the boards in the board group that it receives, then passes those boards to the next lower table, which also plays them, while retaining but not playing the other half of the boards in the board group that it received initially. At the end of the first scissors round, the boards played twice get passed again and join the boards not played in the previous round at that table to form a new board group. The new board group remains intact until the second scissors round, which is half of the total number of rounds after the first. In the second scissors round, the boards played twice in the first scissors round are set aside and the boards not played in the second scissors round are played twice in the same manner. After the second scissors round, the boards played twice are passed again to reconstitute the original board group. The following table shows a Scissors Mitchell Movement of six tables playing six full rounds, with the halves of the initial board groups designated numerically (that is, the initial board group A consists of halves A1 and A2).\n\nMost Bridge scoring programs expect board groups to be invariant throughout the entire movement, so it may take a bit of creativity to get a program to score this type of movement. The external movement M0612 supplied with the ACBLscore® program distributed by the American Contract Bridge League, for example, implements a Scissors Mitchell Movement for six tables as twelve (half) rounds with both pairs remaining at each table for two consecutive (half) rounds and half of each initial board group assigned to each (half) round so that the halves of each initial board group can move separately.\n\nRover Mitchell Movement (or Bump Mitchell Movement) \n\nA Rover Mitchell Movement, also called a Bump Mitchell Movement, is a modification of a Mitchell movement to accommodate an odd number of pairs without a phantom. This movement is most commonly employed to accommodate a pair who arrives after a movement is set, since it does not require addition of another table, or in situations in which there is not space for another table. In its standard form, the roving pair displaces only North–South or East–West pairs and scores in the respective field. The roving pair usually sits out in the first round, and other pairs sit out in subsequent rounds when the roving pair displaces them. The following table illustrates an East–West Rover Mitchell Movement for five tables playing five rounds; the roving pair is East–West Pair 6. Note that East–West Pair 5 is not \"bumped\" and thus plays all of the boards in the session.\n\nThe generation of a Rover Mitchell Movement involves some fairly complex number theory. If the number of full tables is a prime number greater than four, the roving pair can start anywhere and move either up or down two tables in each round, thus displacing and encountering a different North–South pair, a different East–West pair, and a different group of boards in each round. The generation of Rover Mitchell Movement is considerably more difficult if the number of tables is not prime because the roving pair typically must move in an irregular manner to avoid both the deals and the pairs that it has encountered or displaced in the preceding rounds.\n\nIf another pair arrives after a Rover Mitchell Movement has been set, it is possible to add a \"party table\" to the Rover Mitchell Movement. The pair that arrives late becomes a stationary pair at the party table, playing the boards that the roving pair otherwise would not play against the roving pair in the first round and the boards that the roving pair is playing against the pair displaced by the roving pair in each subsequent round. The following table shows the Rover Mitchell Movement above with the addition of a party table (in this example, Table 6, with the added pair becoming North-South Pair 6). It is best to duplicate a separate set of boards for the \"party table\" because the \"party table\" plays the same deals as each of the other tables in one round, creating an awkward situation with actual sharing of boards.\n\nWeb Movement \n\nThe Web Movement is a variation of the standard Mitchell movement in which there are more tables than rounds, but all pairs play all of the boards (deals) that are in play. There is one mathematical constraint – a Web movement with an odd number of tables must have an odd number of rounds. A Web movement with an even number of rounds requires that East-West pairs skip a table at the midpoint of the movement, so East–West pairs would skip a table after the sixth round in a twelve-round Web movement.\n\nThe actual web in a web movement always consists of an even number of tables not exceeding twice the number of rounds, split into two subsections of equal size. The first subsection plays the groups of boards in normal (ascending) order while the second subsection plays the groups of board in reverse (descending) order, sequenced so the boards move normally within each subsection, with additional groups of boards on a bye stand next to the highest table of each subsection. The East-West pairs move normally (up one table each round except in the case of a skip) within or through the web. The Web Movement in which six tables play five rounds, shown in the following table, illustrates how this works.\n\nOne can prepend any number of additional subsections in which the number of tables is equal to the number of rounds onto any web, but each additional subsection requires an additional copy of the boards for the movement to run smoothly. Since the number of tables in the actual web must be even, this capability is what allows use of a Web Movement to play an odd number of rounds when the number of tables is odd. The following table shows the Web movement for eleven tables playing five rounds, obtained by prepending one subsection of five tables to the web in the preceding example (now at tables 6–11). The groups of boards move normally between the prepended subsection(s) and the lower half of the web, with boards from Table 1 going to the bye stand at the highest table in the lower subsection of the actual web (Table 8 in this example).\n\nIn the special case in which prepended subsections reduce the actual web to just two tables as in the following example of a web of seven tables playing five rounds, it is possible to use just one set of the boards for both sides of the web. In this situation, the two tables in the web play the same group of boards only in the middle round if the number of rounds is odd, as illustrated by the following table showing a web of ten tables playing five rounds (with asterisks indicating the shared group of boards in the middle round). The simplest board movement is that boards played at the highest table go to a bye stand at the next lower table and boards played at Table 1 going to the bye stand next to the highest table, as this movement remains constant throughout.\n\nThe number of tables in a web can be twice the number of rounds, but it is better to reduce the web to zero tables with two prepended subsections since this arrangement allows all boards to move in the normal manner of a Standard Mitchell Movement. To illustrate this point, the following tables show a web for ten tables playing five rounds (top) and the non-web alternative (bottom). The only difference is the boards in play—the last plays the board groups in their natural order rather than in reverse order.\n\nBowman Movement \n\nThe Bowman Movement is the specific case of the Web Movement described above in which the actual web consists of two tables and there is exactly one (1) add-on block. In this movement, the next to last table plays the same group of boards as Table #1 in each round, and the last table plays the board groups in reverse order beginning with the last board group. It is theoretically possible to run this movement with only one set of boards as described in the linked article, but players will not like it, especially if there is no sit-out, because the last table shares boards with a different table in each round, creating complicated intra-round board exchanges, and there is a three-way share between Table 1 and the last two tables in the middle round if the number of rounds is odd. It would be considerably less intolerable to run this movement with just one set of boards if there is a phantom pair seated North-South at the last table, leaving the share between Table 1 and the penultimate table as the only active share. Still, it is better to use two copies of the boards so that the only active share is between the last two tables in the middle round.\n\nDouble Web Movement \n\nWeb movements are normally used in larger games in which a complete Mitchell movement is impracticable. However, they are also useful in situations in which it is desirable to have a break (for lunch, for presentation of awards or transaction of club business, or for any other reason) in the middle of a session. The use of a movement consisting of two stanzas, each of which is the basic Web Movement described above, ensures that any discussion of deals that might occur during the break will not compromise the play of those deals after the break. The following table shows a Double Web Movement for eight tables in which the first five rounds are the first Web Movement and the last three rounds are the second Web Movement. This particular movement will run smoothly with two copies of the boards in Board Groups A–E and three copies of the boards in Board Groups F-H, with Table 7 and Table 8 sharing one copy of Board Group G in Round 7, but it is best to duplicate four copies of the boards in advance if one intends to run a Double Web Movement.\n\nA Double Web Movement inherits two constraints from the properties of the Web Movement described above.\n\n The constraint that the number of rounds in a web movement must be odd if the number of tables is odd applies separately to each stanza of a double web movement, with the consequence that the number of rounds in a double web movement must be even when the number of tables is odd.\n\n The requirement for East-West pairs to skip a table at the midpoint of a web with an even number of rounds also applies separately to each stanza of a Double Web Movement. If both stanzas have an even number of rounds, this results in two skips—and the number of tables must be at least two greater than the number of rounds to avoid \"revenge\" rounds in which pairs play against their opponents in a preceding round. However, one can avoid this situation by making the webs of unequal duration (for example, one web of five rounds and one web of three rounds rather than two webs of four rounds, as in the example above, for a total of eight rounds).\n\n\"One Winner\" Movements \n\nA \"One Winner\" Movement is a movement in which all entrants are part of the same scoring field, thus producing only one winner—hence the name. Howell Movements, described below, are the most varied and versatile \"One Winner\" movements, but they are far from the only \"One Winner\" movements. There are many situations in which other \"One Winner\" Movements are better options.\n\n\"One Winner\" Variants of Mitchell Movements\" \n\nAny variant of the Mitchell Movement described above can become a \"One Winner\" Movement simply by scoring both directions in one field (one can have a \"One Winner\" Relay and Bye Stand Michell Movement or a \"One Winner\" Web Movement, for example). When this is done, every pair must have a separate number. The usual practice is for the stationary (North–South) pairs to retain their pair numbers while the moving (East-West) pairs add the number of tables to their starting table to get their pair number. Thus, in a \"One Winner\" Mitchell movement with seven tables, pairs 1–7, starting North-South at the respective tables, would be stationary and pairs 8–14, starting East–West at tables 1–7 respectively, would move. However, this movement is not ideal because the weight of opposition is far from balanced.\n\nScrambled Mitchell Movement \n\nThe Scrambled Mitchell (or Switched Mitchell) Movement changes the direction of play for one or more rounds at most or all of the tables in a \"One Winner\" variant of a Mitchell Movement, customarily achieved by rotating the orientation of the table by one seat position and thus dubbed an \"arrow switch\" so the stationary pairs do not physically change seats, to diminish this disparity. The pairs that start North–South remain at the same table for the entire session and the pairs who start East–West continue to move after each round, even when they play in the opposite direction. With the introduction of arrow switches, the movement becomes a Scrambled Mitchell Movement. More specifically, one can prepend the word \"Scrambled\" to that of the specific Mitchell Movement that gets scrambled (for example, a \"Scrambled Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement\" or a \"Scrambled Crisscross Mitchell Movement\").\n\nThe selection of rounds with arrow switches affects the fairness of the result. The objective is for competitors who play against each other to have the same weighting as those who do not. If r is the number of rounds and s is the number of rounds in which all tables arrow switch, the pairs who play as opponents in the rounds that are not arrow switched have a relative influence of (r-1) for the board group played head to head, -(r-1-2s) for board groups played in opposite direction at different tables, and 2s for rounds played in the same direction for a total influence of (4s), while pairs that start in the same direction have a relative influence of (r-2s) for boards played in the same direction and -2s for boards played in opposite directions, for a total influence of (r-4s) in the absence of arrow switches on the same boards. Equating 4s=r-4s to equalize the influence yields the optimal solution s=r/8, which means that arrow switches on one-eighth (1/8) of the rounds provides the best achievable balance. Thus, the English Bridge Union (EBU) formally recommends this practice. This roughly translates into arrow switches at all tables of the last round when playing six to nine rounds and in the last two rounds when playing twelve or thirteen rounds, provided that two tables are not playing the same group of boards -- the arrow switches should occur on a different group of boards, or a different pair of groups of boards, at each table, in any case. Of course, the balance is not perfect —- entrants who have arrow switches on the same group(s) of boards, including those in direct opposition on the affected rounds, will be outliers.\n\nThe principle of using arrow switches to diminish unfairness extends to all of \"One Winner\" Movements derived from Mitchell Movements, described below.\n\nTwo-Way Rover Mitchell Movement (or Two-Way Bump Mitchell Movement) \n\nThe Two-Way Rover Mitchell Movement, also called a Two-Way Bump Mitchell Movement, is conceptually the same as the Rover Mitchell Movement described above, but the roving pair plays in both directions, bumping the North–South pair for half of the boards and the East-West pair at the same table for the other half of the boards in each round with the first bump occurring in the second half of the first round, thus cutting the duration of the sit-out in half. These movements, which require \"One Winner\" scoring because the roving pair has comparisons in both directions, are most commonly used for games with either thirteen or fifteen pairs, the respective underlying movements being the \"one winner\" variants of a Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement for six full tables and a Straight Mitchell Movement for seven full tables. In this movement, the pairs that start East–West add the number of full tables to the number of their starting tables to obtain their pair number, and the roving pair receives the highest pair number. The original versions of these movements did not use arrow switches, but a common variation incorporates arrow switches in the last round to obtain a fairer balance of comparisons. The following table shows a Two-Way Rover Mitchell Movement for 4 1/2 tables with the underlying movement being the Crisscross Mitchell Movement. Movement tables for One Winner Movements use the notation of jvk to mean that pair j plays North–South and pair k plays East–West.\n\nIf a pair arrives after either of these movements is set, it is possible to add a \"party table\" in the same manner as with the normal Rover Mitchell Movement described above. The pair that remains at the \"party table\" receives the new highest pair number and the other pairs retain the numbers already assigned. Note that each displaced pair should sit opposite its normal direction while playing at the \"party table\" to obtain a better balance of comparisons. Thus, both the pair that remains at the party table and the roving pair play half of the boards of each round in each direction. The following table shows the addition of a \"party table\" to the above movement.\n\nHesitation Mitchell Movement \n\nThe Hesitation Mitchell Movement is derived from the Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement described above—eliminate the stationary pairs at the two tables that would share boards and compress those to tables into one, where the two moving pairs play against each other. This produces a movement in which the number of rounds is one greater than the number of tables—most commonly, five tables play six rounds, seven tables play eight rounds, or eleven tables play twelve rounds. It is also a specific Partial Howell Movement, but it is more readily described here because the numbering of pairs follows that of a \"One Winner\" Mitchell Movement rather than the normal convention of the Howell Movement described below.\n\nIn the Hesitation Mitchell Movement, the pairs seated North–South at every table but one are stationary for the entire movement. The hesitation table, which is usually the table with the highest number, does not have a stationary pair. The moving pairs move up one table at the end of each round, as in a Mitchell movement, except they play a round in each direction at the hesitation table before continuing on to the next table. Thus, each moving pair plays the pair that precedes it and the pair that follows it the rotation in addition to playing against each of the stationary pairs. The boards move down, passing through a bye stand directly opposite the hesitation table. The following table shows a Hesitation Mitchell Movement for five tables with arrow switches on the last round except at the hesitation table.\n\nDouble Hesitation Mitchell Movement \n\nA Double Hesitation Mitchell Movement has two points where moving pairs play North–South, though not normally at directly rotating tables, so that the number of rounds is two more than the number of tables. Thus, six tables can play eight rounds of three boards rather than six rounds of four boards. It also requires two bye stand tables, with the position of the rotations and bye stand tables chosen precisely to prevent a conflict.\n\nHowell Movements \n\nThe Howell Movement, first developed by Edwin Cull Howell, has most pairs progress from table to table in a cycle that causes each pair to play against most or all of the other pairs for one round and each pair to play all of the boards (deals) in play during the session. All moving pairs follow the same progression, so each pair goes to the position occupied by the pair with the next lower number in the preceding round with Pair #1 going to the place occupied by the pair with the number equal to the number of rounds. The pair with the highest number sits North–South (at Table 1 in most, but not all, Howell movements) and does not move from that position, and the number of each moving pair is the round in which it sits East–West at that table. If the number of rounds is less than the number of pairs by more than one, the additional pairs are quasi-stationary—they remain at one table for the entire session, but play some rounds in each direction. The director may place a card at each table or issue a slip of paper called a guide card to each pair with the instructions for the movement.\n\nThe choice of a Howell Movement does limit options to accommodate various situations.\n\n The only practical way to accommodate an odd number of pairs in a Howell movement is with the addition of a phantom pair because the complexity of Howell movements makes it impracticable to configure a Howell movement for a rover.\n\n Except in the case of replacement of a phantom pair with a real pair, it is often impracticable to accommodate a pair that arrives after the movement is set because tables sharing boards and bye stands are likely to be mispositioned.\n\n Howell movements also have a limited number of stationary or quasi-stationary positions to accommodate players who have difficulty moving due to physical disabilities and other mobility impairments. The number of such positions in any Howell movement is the difference between the number of pairs and the number of rounds.\n\n There is also no consistency to the location of quasi-stationary pairs among the various Howell movements, so addition or removal of a table to adjust for actual attendance may change the locations of quasi-stationary places, thus requiring relocation of players with disabilities or mobility impairments right at game time.\n\nHowell movements for four or more tables typically sequence the tables in the reverse of the order in which they play each group of boards, with stands for the intervening boards where consecutive tables do not play consecutive board groups, so that boards move down in the same manner as in a Mitchell movement, with the caveat that a few Howell movements require the table with the highest number to share boards with Table 1.\n\nComplete Howell Movement \n\nIn a Complete Howell Movement, the number of rounds is one less than the number of pairs. The pair with the highest number is stationary, playing each of the other pairs in numerical order. The following table shows a complete Howell movement for four tables, which consists of seven rounds. The pair numbers are indicated in the same manner as for other \"One Winner\" Movements for games of various levels.\n\nA Complete Howell Movement normally is practicable only for smaller games with a few tables, as the number of rounds becomes prohibitive for normal games with eight or more tables, but it is sometimes used in tournament situations. The following tables show the practicable Complete Howell Movements.\n\nNormal Open Games (24–28 Deals)\n\nIntermediate Games (18–22 Deals)\n\nAdvanced Beginner Games (14–18 Deals)\n\nBeginner Games (8–12 Deals)\n\nThe fact that a Complete Howell Movement has only one stationary pair also limits its utility in games that must accommodate players with physical disabilities and impaired mobility.\n\nIn a Complete Howell Movement with n tables, each pair plays 2n-1 rounds—one round against each of the other pairs and 2n-2 rounds at a different table from each of the other pairs. Ideally, each pair should play n-1 rounds in the same direction and n-1 rounds in opposite directions at other tables with respect to each of the other pairs to achieve the proper balance of comparisons, and thus equal weight of opposition, for a fair movement. Complete Howell Movements that achieve this exist for reasonable even numbers of tables, but are not known to exist for any odd number of tables. When the number of tables is odd, the Complete Howell Movements that come closest to meeting this goal have one pair with n-1 comparisons with each of the other pairs and 2n-1 pairs that have n-2 comparisons with n-1 of the other pairs, n-1 comparisons with 1 of the other pair, and n comparisons with the remaining n-1 of the other pairs. The consistency of this pattern clearly suggests a fundamental mathematical limitation, but the present author has not yet found mathematical proof thereof. However, this relationship strongly suggests that a pair that is an extreme outlier in terms of playing ability or ranking compared to the rest of the field—either particularly strong or particularly weak—should be seated in the position that has the perfectly balanced comparisons to avoid skewing the results of the rest of the field.\n\nThe Complete Howell Movement for three tables, like the example shown in the following table, has irregular movement of the boards and a \"free for all\" round in which all tables share the last group of boards after all pairs play the first four groups of boards in the first four rounds because this situation does not have enough degrees of freedom to do otherwise. The director normally will need to move the boards when running this movement, as most players don't know the non-standard movement of the boards. The Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement, described below, is usually a better choice for games with three tables—it runs more smoothly because the boards move in a normal manner in the first four rounds and it offers better accommodation for players with disabilities or impaired mobility.\n\nThe \"free for all round\" in this movement is so-called because it often results in a frenzy of players scrambling to get a board that they have not yet played when there is only one set of the boards. This round runs far more smoothly with two copies of the affected group of boards (place about two-thirds of the boards on each table with instructions to pass the first board or two, as required, to the next lower table upon completion thereof) and most smoothly with three copies (so each table has its own). If there is only one copy of these boards, the director should manage the order of play at each table to ensure that each table completing a board moves on to the available board with the fewest completed plays. Otherwise, two tables inevitably end up needing the same board for their last play, forcing one table to wait while the other plays it.\n\nIn addition to the \"free for all round\" and the irregular board movements, the fact that each round consists of one-fifth of the number of boards in play greatly amplifies the imbalance of comparisons that is common to all Complete Howell Movements with an odd number of tables.\n\nPartial Howell Movement (or \"Three Quarter\" Howell Movement) \n\nA Partial Howell Movement, also sometimes called a \"Three Quarter Howell Movement\" even though the number of rounds is not exactly 3/4 of the number of rounds in a Complete Howell Movement, has fewer rounds and fewer board groups than a Complete Howell Movement, but more rounds than a Complete Mitchell Movement, for the same number of tables. The shortfall from a Complete Howell Movement creates an equal number of quasi-stationary positions at \"swivel tables\" for the pairs with numbers greater than the number of rounds but less than the number of pairs. Each quasi-stationary pair remains at the same table throughout the session, but plays North–South in some rounds and East–West in other rounds, usually achieved by arrow switches at the respective tables rather than by having the quasi-stationary players physically change seats. All stationary and quasi-stationary pairs play against each of the moving pairs but not against each other, while the moving pairs don't play against an equal number of the other moving pairs. The following table shows the Partial Howell Movement for six tables playing eight rounds supplied by the ACBLscore® scoring program published by the American Contract Bridge League. Pair 12 is truly stationary, playing North-South at Table 1 throughout. The quasi-stationary pairs are Pair 11 at Table 2, Pair 10 at Table 3, and Pair 9 at Table 4. In this particular movement, three subsets of entrants do not play against the other members of their own subset. These subsets consist of the stationary and quasi-stationary pairs (Pair 9, Pair 10, Pair 11, and Pair 12), the odd moving pairs (Pair 1, Pair 3, Pair 5, and Pair 7), and the even moving pairs (Pair 2, Pair 4, Pair 6, and Pair 8).\n\nThe development of most published Partial Howell Movements occurred well before the mathematical analysis described above determined the full weight of opposition, with proper accounting of boards played in opposite directions. Thus, the developers set arrow switches at the tables with the quasi-stationary pairs so the stationary and quasi-stationary pairs would have direct comparisons on about half of the boards—which the mathematical analysis has subsequently proven to be wrong. The result is a hideous imbalance in the fairness of the movement. This issue does not affect published Complete Howell Movements described, but only because all pairs of entrants play against each other in a Complete Howell Movement so the correction affects the weight of opposition of all pairs of entrants in the same way. The next table shows the frequencies of number of comparisons reported by the ACBLscore® scoring program for this movement and the subsequent table shows the pairs that represent the most extreme outliers as reported by the ACBLscore® scoring program, with asterisks (*) indicating pairs that do not play in direct opposition at the same table. The pairings with asterisks in the first three rows and the pairings without asterisks in the last two rows are the most egregiously imbalanced in this movement.\n\nScissors Howell Movement \n\nThe Scissors Howell Movement cuts each board group in half, with each half moving independently, in the same manner as the Scissors Mitchell Movement described above. This movement is most useful with three tables, where the boards can move in a manner that offsets the imbalance in comparisons for a Complete Howell Movement with an odd number of tables discussed above, amplified by the fact that each round plays 20% of the boards. The following table shows a Scissors Howell Movement for three tables in which the half board groups move in a complementary manner so that the imbalance of the upper half countering the imbalance of the lower half, creating a balanced movement.\n\nA normal scissors movement requires each complete board group to consist of an even number of boards so it can split exactly in half—with the consequence that a scissors movement with five rounds would have to play either twenty (20) or thirty (30) boards. However, it is possible to play either 24 or 26 boards with the above movement by varying the size of the board subgroups as shown in the following table—each table plays five boards in each of the first four rounds and four or six boards respectively in the last round.\n\nIt is theoretically possible to configure a Scissors Howell Movement for more than three tables, but there is no practical reason to do so. There are complete Howell movements for four tables that are correctly balanced, and a Scissors Howell Movement for five or more tables would require play of too many boards to be of practicable use in any normal situation.\n\nHybrid movement \n\nWhenever an event of two sessions draws only enough entrants to form one section, the normal practice is to play a Mitchell Movement in the first session, followed by separate Howell or equivalent movements for the entrants in the first session's North-South and East–West fields in the second session. Thus, an event with sixteen pairs would play a Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement (eight rounds) in the first session followed by separate Complete Howell Movements (seven rounds) for each of the original fields in the second session, so that each entrant would play against each of the other entrants in one session or the other. A Hybrid Movement takes the same approach to form two stanzas within a single session. A complete Hybrid Movement is functionally equivalent to a Complete Howell Movement, but it has several pairs that don't change tables after every round—thus providing better accommodation for players with disabilities and mobility impairments.\n\nThe following table shows a complete Hybrid Movement for four tables playing seven rounds. The first four rounds are a Scrambled Mitchell Movement in which each of the pairs that start East–West move to each of the four tables and play each of the pairs who start North–South, with arrow switches at three of the four tables. In the last three rounds, the pairs that started North–South play a Complete Howell Movement at Table 1 and Table 2 while the pairs that started East–West play another Complete Howell Movement at Table 3 and Table 4. The configuration of the arrow switches in the first four rounds and the positioning of pairs in the last three rounds conspire to balance the movement perfectly—each pair of entrants plays one group of boards against each other at the same table, three groups of boards in the same direction at different tables, and three groups of boards in opposite directions at different tables. This particular movement works best with two copies of the boards, but it can run with Table 1 sharing boards with Table 2 and Table 3 sharing boards with Table 4 throughout if necessary.\n\nNote that hybrid movements often provide much better accommodation for players with physical disabilities and mobility impairments than the equivalent Complete Howell Movement. In this example, Pair 1 is completely stationary, Pair 2 changes tables just once, Pair 4 changes tables twice, and both Pair 3 and Pair 5 change tables just three times, each. The equivalent Complete Howell Movement has one stationary pair, requiring all other pairs to change tables after every round but one.\n\nIn the case of an odd number of tables, it is best for the first part of a Hybrid Movement to operate as a Scrambled Hesitation Mitchell Movement, as that reduces the number of stationary pairs to an even number permitting separate Howell movements for the stationary and rotating pairs. In the second part of the movement, the stationary pairs play a Complete Howell Movement while the moving pairs play a Partial Howell Movement in which they \"miss\" the pairs that they played at the hesitation table. With three tables, this movement becomes the Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement described below.\n\nExtended Hesitation Mitchell Movement \n\nIn a game of just three tables, the Hesitation Mitchell Movement that would form the first part of a Hybrid Movement pits each pair against four of the other five pairs in the first four rounds. This reduces the second stage to one round in which each pair plays the fifth group of boards against the pair that it did not play in the first five rounds of the movement. The fifth round is really an extension of the Hesitation Mitchell Movement rather than the parallel Howell movements that normally form the second part of a hybrid movement; hence the difference in name. The following table shows this Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement.\n\nThe Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement is functionally equivalent to the Complete Howell Movement for three tables shown above, but it generally runs more smoothly because the rotating pairs and the boards move in a regular manner for the first four rounds. It has the additional advantage that Pair 1 is fully stationary, Pair 2 changes tables only once, and Pair 6 changes tables only twice—generally acceptable, or at least tolerable, accommodations for players who have some degree of mobility impairment—whereas the Complete Howell Movement requires five of the six pairs to change tables after every round. The balance of comparisons and the existence of a \"free for all round\" are the same as in any Complete Howell Movement for three tables, so there is no \"down side\" whatsoever to using this movement instead of the Complete Howell movement. The previous discussion pertaining to the \"free for all round\" in a Complete Howell Movement for three tables is also applicable here—it is best to provide three copies of the boards in Board Group E so each table can have its own copy.\n\nChoice of movements\n\nThere are two or more possible movements to choose from for any combination of tables and session length. The choice depends on the preferences of the organizers.\n\n Complete Howell Movements ensure that each entrant plays against all of the other entrants, but the number of rounds and boards varies and may not be convenient. All pairs, except one, move after every round, which slows down the move especially if one table is slow, and there is only one stationary table, which is problematic if some players have limited mobility. The move on each round is complex and table cards or guide cards are essential. Also, except for filling a phantom position, they offer no flexibility to add entrants who arrive after the movement is set.\n Normal Mitchell Movements have a stationary pair at each table, and they are considerably simpler than Howell movements and thus easier to run so there is no need for special table mats or guide cards. It is also quite easy to add a table to most Mitchell movements if entrants arrive after the movement is set.\n Hesitation Mitchell Movements and Partial Howell Movements are intermediate between the cases above. If the number of rounds is one more than the number of tables, the Hesitation Mitchell Movement is much simpler and thus much easier to run.\n\nComplete Howell Movements are most convenient for small numbers of tables and Mitchell movements are best for large numbers of tables. In a typical club session of around 3 hours, a Howell can be used for seven or fewer tables and a Mitchell for four or more tables. Up to 11 tables, useful alternatives are given by Partial Howell Movements, Hesitation Mitchell Movements (odd numbers of tables), and Double Hesitation Mitchell Movements (even numbers of tables). However, the director needs to consider circumstances such as the need for stationary places to accommodate players with disabilities in making the final selection.\n\nThe present authors prefer the following movements, described above, for normal games of 2½ to 8 tables.\n\n2½ or 3 Tables \n\n20 Boards: Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement (simplest), Complete Howell Movement, or Scissors Howell Movement (best balanced); all 5 rounds of 4 boards\n24 Boards or 26 Boards: Scissors Howell Movement with Modified Board Subgroups; 4 rounds of 5 boards + 1 round of 4 or 6 boards\n25 Boards: Extended Hesitation Mitchell Movement (simplest) or Complete Howell Movement; 5 rounds of 5 boards\n\n3½ or 4 Tables \n\n20 Boards: Crisscross Mitchell Movement, 4 rounds of 5 boards\n21 Boards: Hybrid Movement or Complete Howell Movement, 7 rounds of 3 boards\n24 Boards: Crisscross Mitchell Movement, 4 rounds of 6 boards\n28 Boards: Hybrid Movement or Complete Howell movement, 7 rounds of 4 boards\n\n4½ Tables\n\n18 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 9 rounds of 2 boards\n24 Boards: Two-Way Rover Mitchell Movement, 4 rounds of 6 boards (3-board sit-out)\n27 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 9 rounds of 3 boards\n\n5 Tables\n\n18 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 9 rounds of 2 boards\n24 Boards: Hesitation Mitchell movement, 6 rounds of 4 boards\n25 Boards: Complete Mitchell Movement, 5 rounds of 5 boards\n27 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 9 rounds of 3 boards\n\n5½ or 6 Tables\n\n22 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 11 rounds of 2 boards\n24 Boards: Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement, 6 rounds of 4 boards, or Double Hesitation Mitchell Movement, 8 rounds of 3 boards\n27 Boards: Partial Howell Movement, 9 rounds of 3 boards\n\n6½ Tables\n\n21 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 7 rounds of 3 boards\n24 Boards: Two-way Rover Mitchell Movement, 6 Rounds of 4 Boards (2-board sit-out), or Hesitation Mitchell Movement, 8 rounds of 3 boards\n26 Boards: Complete Howell Movement, 13 rounds of 2 boards\n\n7 Tables\n\n21 Boards: Complete Mitchell Movement, 7 rounds of 3 boards\n24 Boards: Hesitation Mitchell movement, 8 rounds of 3 boards\n26 Boards: Complete Howell movement, 13 rounds of 2 boards\n28 Boards: Complete Mitchell movement, 7 rounds of 4 boards\n\n7½ Tables\n\n24 Boards: Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement with Virtual Share, 8 rounds of 3 boards\n28 Boards: Two-Way Rover Mitchell Movement, 7 rounds of 4 boards (2-board sit-out)\n\n8 Tables\n\n24 Boards: Relay and Bye Stand Mitchell Movement or Double Web Movement, 8 rounds of 3 boards\n\nSwiss Pairs competitions\n\nIn a Swiss Pairs competition, a large number of entrants play individual head-to-head matches in each round, typically over 6, 7 or 8 boards, all using the same sets of boards. The matchpoint scores on each board are compared across the entire field, and the opposing pairs' total scores for the round are converted into Victory Points (VPs). Match assignments for the next round are based on the cumulative VP score, as for Swiss Teams, see below. This is a form of barometer movement.\n\nMovements for individual games\n\nIndividual games started declining in popularity among competitive Bridge players long ago, leading to their gradual disappearance from tournaments. In the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), the New England Bridge Conference (ACBL District 25) discontinued the last regional tournament that featured individual events due to low attendance with no intent to resurrect it. Nevertheless, individual games are still legal.\n\nRainbow Movement\n\nThe Rainbow Movement for individual games the analog of the Mitchell Movement for pairs games. In a rainbow movement, each player always sits in the same direction, producing separate North, South, East, and West scoring fields and four winners, one in each direction. In a complete Rainbow movement, the number of tables is equal to the number of rounds. The players seated North are stationary, and the players seated South, East, and West move in a manner that's different from one another and different from the movement of the boards after each round.\n\nRegular Rainbow Movement \n\nThe Regular Rainbow Movement requires that the number of tables be a prime number—that is, a number whose only positive integer divisors are itself and one. In the Regular Rainbow Movement, the players in each direction move in the same manner after each round. The following movement is one example.\n\n East players move UP TWO tables.\n\n South players move UP ONE table.\n\n West players move DOWN TWO tables.\n\n Boards move DOWN ONE table.\n\nAny permutation of these movements will work.\n\nThe following table shows the Regular Rainbow Movement for five tables. The notation for players is <North>&<South>v<East>&<West>.\n\nIrregular Rainbow Movement \n\nIn an irregular rainbow movement, the movement of the South, East, and West players changes each round. These movements require considerable engineering, and the North players do not necessarily remain stationary. The following table shows a Rainbow Movement for eight tables.\n\nShomate Movement\n\nThe Shomate Movement is analogous to the Howell Movement for pair games—the moving players change direction. In a complete Shomate Movement, the number of rounds is one less than the number of players and only one player is stationary, usually seated North at Table 1. The stationary player usually has the highest player number, partnered with the player whose number matches the number of the round. The moving players move in the same cycle, each following the player with the next lower number.\n\nThe following table shows the complete Shomate Movement for two tables playing seven rounds. This particular movement must operate as a barometer game because that's the only way to get comparisons on each deal with only two tables, but Shomate movements for more than two tables do not.\n\nShomate movements tend not to be practicable for games with more than three or four tables because they require too many rounds.\n\nMovements for team competitions\n\nThe movement selected for a team game depends upon the type of competition and the number of entrants. The simplest format is a head-to-head match between two teams of four, where no movement is necessary except sharing the boards.\n\nTypes of Multiple Teams competition\n\nThe movement for a multiple teams competition depends upon the number of entrants. If the number of entrants is small enough, each team should play each of the other entrants — called a \"Round Robin\" or \"all-play-all\" format. However, when the number of teams is large the number of boards per match will be small. When this is not desirable, some other form of arranging competitors to play must be used. The most common are Knockouts and Swiss. In both of these, teams play head-to-head matches of a convenient number of boards in each round. In Knockouts, match winners advance to the next round; the losers are eliminated from the event. In a \"Swiss Teams\" competition, the first match may be assigned randomly and subsequent matches assigned dynamically based upon the outcome of the previous matches across the entire field. Another possibility is to divide the entrants into brackets based on ability or ranking, and they play the other entrants in their own bracket in a \"Round Robin\" format.\n\nStandard Swiss Teams competitions\n\nIn a Swiss Teams event, the normal practice is to assign matches for subsequent rounds dynamically by the cumulative total of Victory Points awarded based upon the margin of victory or loss in the preceding rounds. The tournament director examines the record of each team and assigns pairs of teams with similar records to oppose each other in the next round, subject to the constraint that no team can play against another team in more than one round. The \"Swiss\" terminology originated from its use in multi-round chess tournaments. This causes stronger teams to come into competition with other stronger teams that are doing well in the fight for the top, weaker teams to come into competition with other weaker teams in the fight to the bottom, and average teams to gravitate toward the middle of the standing (because an average team that beats a weaker team by a significant margin then must play against a stronger team and vice versa). Most computer scoring programs now generate subsequent matches automatically, with algorithms that are sophisticated enough to ensure that undesirable assignments won't arise in the later rounds.\n\nAn event or bracket with an odd number of entrants requires that at least three of the teams play interleaved matches as round-robins, either in a single round or in a pair of rounds (unless there is a sit-out). In the first case, three teams play two half-length matches during the round (e.g. 4 boards each when all other competitors are playing 8 board matches); this is sometimes known as a \"short triple\". In the second case, each set of interleaved matches requires two rounds of play, known as a \"long triple\". This means that the number of rounds must be even. Also, because the teams involved will not have results to compare for future pairings for two rounds, in the later rounds it is desirable to avoid assigning the leading teams to a \"long triple\". In both cases, each team's North–South pair plays one side of one match while its East–West pair plays one side of another match in the first half of the interleaved matches. In the second half, each pair play the other side of the match that the other pair played in the first half. The team then scores both matches.\n\nThe following table shows interleaved matches for three teams. The teams are designated by lower case letters in this table rather than numbers because their numbers don't necessarily match the numbers of the tables, but the movement really consists of the second and third rounds a Standard Mitchell Movement for three tables. In competitions in which the players shuffle and deal the cards for each match, the cards are shuffled for the first round but not for the second round in this format.\n\nRound Robin Movements\n\nIn a Round Robin Movement, the number of matches is one fewer than the number of entrants so each team plays against each of the other teams. Scoring may be by International Match Points (IPMs) or Victory Points (VPs). With more than six teams in an event of one session and with more than ten teams in an event of two sessions, Victory Point scoring tends to be less appropriate because the matches play too few deals.\n\nEven numbers of teams \n\nWhen a Round Robin event or bracket has an even number of teams, all of the teams can play each other in head to head matches. The following table shows the simplest arrangement of matches for four teams.\n\nThe movement of the boards can present challenges to ensure that the two opposing pairs of the two teams in a match play the same boards even though they meet in different rounds. The straightforward American Whist movement requires an odd number of teams, so it only works if one pair of teams do not play each other. If a true all-play-all movement is required, various ingenious alternatives, such as the Thurner movement, have been devised, as described in the EBU Movement Manual.\n\nOdd numbers of teams \n\nAn odd number of entrants must play each other in rings of interleaved matches or using the American Whist League Movement described in the section on Pair Movements (above) with the first round removed.\n\n Three tables normally use the format for three interleaved matches shown above.\n The format recommended by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) for five teams consists of two rings of interleaved matches shown in the following table, as this allows the players to score the first two matches after the second round. The last two rounds can use the same deals as the first two rounds if the groups of boards move as shown in the table. The ACBL recommends shifting the home tables (North-South pairs) of four of the teams after the first ring of matches, as shown in the table, so that the North-South and East-West pairs of each team are not playing at adjacent tables.\n\n A round robin for seven or nine teams could operate as three or four rings, respectively, of interleaved matches, but the more prevalent practice is for three teams to play interleaved matches and the remaining teams to play head to head matches in each pair of rounds. With nine teams, there is also the option to play four three-way interleaved matches as shown in the following table.\n\nThe American Whist League (AWL) Movement, described above as a pair movement, also can be employed for a round robin of five, seven, or nine tables simply by removing its first round. Alternatively, the first round of this movement can be employed to duplicate boards since the boards at each table are precisely the boards that the respective team will not play in the competition.\n\nKnockout competition\n\nIn a knockout competition, the entrants are typically divided into brackets of nine to sixteen teams and assigned initial positions within each bracket by a random draw for starting positions on the bracket chart. Each round of matches may consist of either head to head or three-way matches, or some combination thereof, each of which is one round in duration. A three-way match consists of three round-robin \"half-matches\" (so each side of a three-way match plays half the number of deals of a head to head match in the same round). The winner of each head-to-head match continues into the next round while the loser is eliminated. In a three-way match, two teams may continue with one team eliminated or vice versa. The brackets typically are configured to come down to four teams in the semifinal round of competition.\n\nStandard knockout competitions usually consist of four rounds.\n\n In a full knockout competition, each round is a separate session with each head to head match consisting of twenty-four deals, usually played over two days with two sessions on each day. The pairs eliminated in the third round tie for third and fourth places overall. The final round assigns first place overall to the winner and second place overall to the loser.\n In a Compact Knockout competition, there are two rounds in each session with each head to head match consisting of twelve deals, usually played on the same day. The teams that lose in the first round play consolation matches in the second round, but cannot place overall. The teams that lose in the third round play head to head in the fourth round, with the winner placing third and the loser placing fourth overall.\n\nVarious championship events may consist of more sessions and more matches with a larger single field.\n\nSoloway (Hybrid) Team Competition\n\nThe Soloway Team Competition is a two-stage hybrid event in which the first stage is a standard Swiss Team event, from which the top teams continue into a Knock-Out competition in the second stage that determines the overall winner. This format can run as either a single competition, with several rounds of elimination in the knock-out stage, or as a bracketed event in which each bracket has its own qualifying and final rounds. If the event is bracketed, the qualifying stage typically is a Round Robin format so that each team plays against each of the other teams in its bracket.\n\nBoard-a-Match (BAM) Movements\n\nA Board-a-Match (BAM) event is a Swiss Team competition in which each board is deemed to be a separate match, with a winner and a loser. These events typically consist of each team playing a few boards against each of the other teams, using a movement similar to that for pair games but engineered so any two teams play the same boards in both directions. The most common team movement is the American Whist League (AWL) movement described above, with the first round removed (so a team's North-South pair does not play against its own East-West pair). However, the teams may shuffle and deal the boards that would be at their table in Round 1 of the AWL Movement, which are boards that they won't play, before moving for the first round of actual competition.\n\nFor an even number of tables, things become more difficult. A simple solution is to use an American Whist movement with an even number of rounds but with one or more teams not playing each other, which is not ideal. One or two of the moves between rounds will be different, to avoid board/team conflicts. There are alternative movements that are better balanced but more complex, see EBU Movements Manual.\n\nReferences \n\n EBU Movements Manual. Published by the English Bridge Union, Aylesbury, UK.\n\nExternal links\nDouble Hesitation Mitchell\nHesitation Mitchell Movement at English Bridge Union\nMovement Chart at English Bridge Union\nClub Duplicate Pairs and Suggested Movements at English Bridge Union\n\"Simon's Movement Book\" by Simon Chapman\n\nContract bridge\nTournament systems",
"This is a list of players to have played 30 games for one club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The AFL Women's is the elite national competition in women's Australian rules football. The following tables only include home-and-away matches and finals; practice matches are excluded from the totals. These tables only comprise foundation AFLW teams, as they are currently the only teams to have played at least 30 games in the competition.\n\nAdelaide\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nBrisbane\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nCarlton\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nCollingwood\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nFremantle\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nGeelong\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nGreater Western Sydney\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nMelbourne\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nNorth Melbourne\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nWestern Bulldogs\n\nUpdated to the end of round 8, 2022.\n\nSee also\n\n AFL Women's games records\n List of VFL/AFL players to have played 200 games for one club\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n Every AFLW player at AustralianFootball.com\n\n30 games for one club\n30 games for one club"
]
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[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities",
"What is Activites about?",
"In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"What is the activity of the Round table?",
"The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"what are the department of Round tables?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | What is the name of their worker? | 4 | What is the name of the Algonquin Round Table worker? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | false | [
"A worker–machine activity chart is a chart used to describe or plan the interactions between workers and machines over time.\n\nAs the name indicates, the chart deals with the criteria of work elements and their time for both the worker and the machine. This chart is useful to describe any repetitive worker-machine system.\n\nFormats\nA typical worker-machine activity chart consists of two main columns, one for the worker and the other the machine; in some chart formats, there is a third column showing the cumulative time. The chart can also be color-coded to convey information; for example, The time column is used to specify the activity of the worker and the machine, if the column is shaded with black color, it indicates that the worker or the machine is performing an operation, while if it is shaded with gray color, it refers to inspection. For moving, it is customary to refer to it with diagonal lines, whereas horizontal lines indicate a holding activity. If the column is blank then the worker or the machine is idle. For some other uses, there is a same version to accommodate enormous worker-machine interactions, called the multiple worker-multiple machine activity chart.\n\nUses\nThe chart can be used to investigate potential process improvements. It can be used to illustrate delays and redundancy, so process improvement efforts can be made to eliminate inefficiencies and identify the activities that can be combined.\n\nSee also\nList of manufacturing processes\nOutline of manufacturing\n\nReferences\n\nIndustrial engineering",
"A screening game is a two-player principal–agent type game used in economic and game theoretical modeling. Principal–agent problems are situations where there are two players whose interests are not necessarily matching with each other, and where complete honesty is not optimal for one player. This will lead to strategies where the players exchange information based in their actions which is to some degree noisy. This ambiguity prevents the other player from taking advantage of the first. The game is closely related to signaling games, but there is a difference in how information is exchanged.\n\nIn the principal-agent model, for instance, there is an employer (the principal) and a worker (the agent). The worker has a given skill level, and chooses the amount of effort he will exert. If the worker knows his ability (which is given at the outset, perhaps by nature), and can acquire credentials or somehow signal that ability to the employer before being offered a wage, then the problem is signaling. What sets apart a screening game is that the employer offers a wage level first, at which point the worker chooses the amount of credentials he will acquire (perhaps in the form of education or skills) and accepts or rejects a contract for a wage level. It is called screening, because the worker is screened by the employer in that the offers may be contingent on the skill level of the worker.\n\nSome economists use the terms signaling and screening interchangeably, and the distinction can be attributed to Stiglitz and Weiss (1989).\n\nSee also\nCheap talk\nGame theory\nIncomplete information\nSignalling (economics)\nSignalling theory\n\nReferences\nStiglitz, Joseph and Andrew Weiss (1989) “Sorting out the Differences Between Screening and Signalling Models,” in Papers in Commemoration of the Economic Theory Seminar at Oxford University, edited by Michael Dempster, Oxford: Oxford University Press.\n\nGame theory game classes"
]
|
[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities",
"What is Activites about?",
"In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"What is the activity of the Round table?",
"The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"what are the department of Round tables?",
"I don't know.",
"What is the name of their worker?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | Any important information? | 5 | Any other important information about Algonquin Round Table besides the activities? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | true | [
"XMLNuke is an open source framework intended to create Websites using only XML/XSLT transformations. XMLNuke has several classes to aid the developer create entire applications producing only XML. XMLNuke is integrated with a basic Content management system.\n\nDesign\n\nXMLNuke assumes it the most important part of any site is the information. However all information is merged with complex HTML, JavaScript structures, so any changes in the application or design may cause a very deep modification in the current structure. Using XMLNuke you can separate naturally your information from your layout. Any class in XMLNuke produces XML.\n\nYou can easily move your site from a FLAT layout to a very complex layout using, for example, Ajax, without any change in your application.\n\nXMLNuke focus the development to maintenance.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nXMLNuke SourceForge Site\nXMLNuke official site\n\nXML software",
"A representative example is a term used in UK financial advertising regulations that aim to show consumers the typical costs associated with a product being advertised. The representative example must be provided when any financial services provider advertising a product, whether it is a credit card, loan or mortgage.\n\nThe term was introduced when six sets of regulations come into force from 1 February 2011 as a result of the UK government's implementation of the 2008 European Union Consumer Credit Directive which replaces the previous Consumer Credit Directive.\n\nHistory\nUntil 2010, any financial services provider advertising a product in the UK, whether it is a credit card, loan or mortgage, have had to comply with the Consumer Credit (Advertisement) Regulations 2004 (2004 Regulations). \n\nHowever, from 1 February 2011, important changes come into effect when six sets of regulations which come into force based on the European Union Consumer Credit Directive.\n\nWhile there were several subtle but important changes to the way financial products were advertised, one of the most important developments was the need for companies to include a representative example.\n\nWhen it must be provided\nThe Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published guidelines which explain when a representative example must be included when advertising:\n\n“Where the advertisement includes an interest rate or any amount relating to the cost of the credit, then a representative example of the credit on offer must also be included in the advertisement.”\n\nInformation required \nA representative example must comprise ‘standard information’ and must be accompanied by the words \"representative example\". It must be representative of agreements to which the representative APR applies and which are expected to result from the advertisement” \n\nThe ‘standard information’ which will be included in a representative example includes:\n\nThe rate of interest – a fixed or variable percentage, applied on an annual basis\nAny Total Cost of Credit (TCC) charges - details of any fees or charges included\nTotal amount of credit\nRepresentative APR\n\nPreviously, when a company stated an APR figure in an advertisement, this figure was defined as “not be less than the APR paid by at least 66% of consumers on the list”. However, from 1 February 2011, this calculation will change slightly. The BSI reports that: “The representative APR must reflect at least 51% of business expected to result from the advertisement. The standard information must be representative of agreements to which the representative APR applies.” \n\nIt is also worth bearing in mind that if there is more than one interest rate applicable – for example for credit cards where there may be a different purchase rate and balance transfer rate – the rate applicable to the most common drawdown mechanism must be shown. Similarly, if a rate applies only for a short period (a 0% balance transfer rate for six months), the duration of the period and the go-to rate, if known should also be shown.\n\nIf the advertisement is for running-account credit, the advertiser should assume a credit limit of £1,200 unless it is known that the credit limit will be less than £1,200.\n\nHow it should appear \nAccording to the BIS, the representative example “must be clear and concise and presented together”. In addition, the representative example must be the most prominent component of the information. \n\nIn simple terms, the representative example:\n\nMust contain certain standard information including a representative APR\nMust be clear and concise\nMust be more prominent than the information that triggered the inclusion\n\nAs the BIS says in its guidelines: “The purpose is to ensure that important information concerning the cost of the credit can be viewed together as a whole, so that the borrower can assess suitability and affordability in the round.”\n\nReferences \n\nCredit\nFinancial services in the United Kingdom"
]
|
[
"Algonquin Round Table",
"Activities",
"What is Activites about?",
"In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"What is the activity of the Round table?",
"The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker.",
"what are the department of Round tables?",
"I don't know.",
"What is the name of their worker?",
"I don't know.",
"Any important information?",
"A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate."
]
| C_b6a9e4af8dc54cd7abeb132612c7e77e_1 | Where is round table located? | 6 | Where is the Algonquin Round Table located? | Algonquin Round Table | In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"--but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it--located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet. A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.
In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.
Origin
The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients (Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch.
The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. Initially the group called itself "The Board" and the luncheons "Board meetings". After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself "Luigi Board". Finally, they became "The Vicious Circle" although "The Round Table" gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor.
Membership
Charter members of the Round Table included:
Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)
Marc Connelly, playwright
Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights
George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer
Murdock Pemberton, Broadway publicist, writer
Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright
John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist
Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist
Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:
Tallulah Bankhead, actress
Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer
Noël Coward, playwright
Blyth Daly, actress
Edna Ferber, author and playwright
Eva Le Gallienne, actress
Margalo Gillmore, actress
Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross)
Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
Margaret Leech, writer and historian
Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter
Harpo Marx, comedian and film star
Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
Alice Duer Miller, writer
Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist
Deems Taylor, composer
Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian
Peggy Wood, actress
Activities
In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. Regulars at the game included Kaufman, Adams, Broun, Ross and Woollcott, with non-Round Tablers Herbert Bayard Swope, silk merchant Paul Hyde Bonner, baking heir Raoul Fleischmann, actor Harpo Marx, and writer Ring Lardner sometimes sitting in. The group also played charades (which they called simply "The Game") and the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's memorable sentence using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think."
Members often visited Neshobe Island, a private island co-owned by several "Algonks"—but governed by Woollcott as a "benevolent tyrant", as his biographer Samuel Hopkins Adams charitably put it—located on several acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. There they would engage in their usual array of games including Wink murder, which they called simply "Murder", plus croquet.
A number of Round Tablers were inveterate practical jokers, constantly pulling pranks on one another. As time went on the jokes became ever more elaborate. Harold Ross and Jane Grant once spent weeks playing a particularly memorable joke on Woollcott involving a prized portrait of himself. They had several copies made, each slightly more askew than the last, and would periodically secretly swap them out and then later comment to Woollcott "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott was beside himself. Eventually they returned the original portrait.
No Sirree!
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.
No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An A. A. Milne Play."
The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.
With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Decline
As members of the Round Table moved into ventures outside New York City, inevitably the group drifted apart. By the early 1930s the Vicious Circle was broken. Edna Ferber said she realized it when she arrived at the Rose Room for lunch one day in 1932 and found the group's table occupied by a family from Kansas. Frank Case was asked what happened to the group. He shrugged and replied, "What became of the reservoir at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street? These things do not last forever." Some members of the group remained friends after its dissolution. Parker and Benchley in particular remained close up until his death in 1945, although her political leanings did strain their relationship. Others, as the group itself would come to understand when it gathered following Woollcott's death in 1943, simply realized that they had nothing to say to one another.
Public response and legacy
Because a number of the members of the Round Table had regular newspaper columns, the activities and quips of various Round Table members were reported in the national press. This brought Round Tablers widely into the public consciousness as renowned wits.
Not all of their contemporaries were fans of the group. Their critics accused them of logrolling, or exchanging favorable plugs of one another's works, and of rehearsing their witticisms in advance. James Thurber (who lived in the hotel) was a detractor of the group, accusing them of being too consumed by their elaborate practical jokes. H. L. Mencken, who was much admired by many in the Circle, was also a critic, commenting to fellow writer Anita Loos that "their ideals were those of a vaudeville actor, one who is extremely 'in the know' and inordinately trashy".
The group showed up in the 1923 best-seller Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton. She sarcastically described a group she called "the Sophisticates":
Groucho Marx, brother of Round Table associate Harpo, was never comfortable amidst the viciousness of the Vicious Circle. Therein he remarked "The price of admission is a serpent's tongue and a half-concealed stiletto." Even some members of the Round Table disparaged it later in life. Dorothy Parker in particular criticized the group.
Despite Parker's bleak assessment and while it is true that some members of the Round Table are perhaps now "famous for being famous" instead of for their literary output, Round Table members and associates contributed to the literary landscape, including Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Circle members Kaufman, Connelly and Sherwood (who won four) and by associate Ferber and the legacy of Ross's New Yorker. Others made lasting contributions to the realms of stage and screen — Tallulah Bankhead and Eva Le Gallienne became Broadway greats and the films of Harpo and Benchley remain popular; and Parker has remained renowned for her short stories and literary reviews.
The Algonquin Round Table, as well as the number of other literary and theatrical greats who lodged there, helped earn the Algonquin Hotel its status as a New York City Historic Landmark. The hotel was so designated in 1987. In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by the Friends of Libraries USA based on the contributions of "The Round Table Wits". The organization's bronze plaque is attached to the front of the hotel.
Although the Rose Room was removed from the Algonquin in a 1998 remodel, the hotel paid tribute to the group by commissioning and hanging the painting A Vicious Circle by Natalie Ascencios, depicting the Round Table and also created a replica of the original table. The hotel occasionally stages an original musical production, The Talk of the Town, in the Oak Room. Its latest production started September 11, 2007 and ran through the end of the year.
A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The dramatic film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) recounts the Round Table from the perspective of Dorothy Parker.
In popular culture
Portions of the 1981 film Rich and Famous were set in the Algonquin and one of the film's characters, Liz Hamilton (played by Jacqueline Bisset), refers to the Round Table during the film.
The Algonquin Round Table was featured in "The Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920", a 1993 episode of the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which the title character meets the group and attends at least two lunches. Wonderful Nonsense - The Algonquin Round Table is a documentary produced for the DVD release of that film in 2008.
In season 2, episode 4 of Seinfeld entitled “The Phone Message” (1991), Jerry tells Donna, the woman he is seeing at the time: "Boy, I bet you got a regular Algonquin round table there", after Donna says she discussed a Dockers commercial with friends.
The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle concerns Dorothy Parker and her relationship with Robert Benchley and the larger group.
In 2009, Robert Benchley's grandson, Nat Benchley, and co-editor Kevin C. Fitzpatrick published The Lost Algonquin Round Table, a collection of the early writings of the group. Benchley's grandson Peter Benchley wrote the famous shark novel Jaws upon which the Steven Spielberg film is based.
See also
References
External links
Algonquin Round Table historical site History notes and news since 1999
Algonquin Round Table at PBS's American Masters
American literary movements
American humorists
Culture of Manhattan
Literary circles
20th-century American literature | false | [
"The bonding-studenteninitiative e.V. (short name bonding) is an independent, non-political and non-profit student organisation. It was founded in 1988 in Aachen, Germany. The name derives from wire bonding, where interconnections between an integrated circuit and its outer world are made.\n\nIts aim is to develop students of engineering and natural sciences for professional life. This aim is mainly followed by the bonding-Firmenkontaktmesse (a job fair) which is organised every year at each location. Additionally, bonding organises company visits, company presentations, case studies, softskill trainings and more. These projects are for free for the participating students.\n\nbonding is a member of the Cologne Round Table (Kölner Runde).\n\nbonding consists of twelve local groups which are mainly located in the technical universities of the following towns in Germany:\n\n Aachen\n Berlin\n Bochum\n Braunschweig\nBremen\n Dresden\n Erlangen\n Hamburg\n Kaiserslautern\n Karlsruhe\n Munich\n Stuttgart\n\nPartner organisations \n\n Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES, since 2005)\n Cologne Round Table (Kölner Runde / Cologne Round Table)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nhttp://www.bonding.de\n\n1988 establishments in West Germany\nEngineering education\nStudent organisations in Germany\nScientific organisations based in Germany",
"Pan Li-chun (; born 26 February 1982 in Kaohsiung) is a Taiwanese table tennis player. As of July 2012, Pan is ranked no. 168 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). Pan is a member of the table tennis team for Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and is coached and trained by Hsu Long-Chien. Pan is also right-handed, and uses the shakehand grip.\n\nPan represented the Chinese Taipei at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in the women's singles. She defeated Egypt's Shaimaa Abdul-Aziz in the unseeded preliminary round, before losing out the first round match to Turkey's Melek Hu, with a set score of 1–4.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n NBC 2008 Olympics profile\n\n1982 births\nLiving people\nTaiwanese female table tennis players\nTable tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics\nOlympic table tennis players of Taiwan\nSportspeople from Kaohsiung\nTable tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games\nAsian Games competitors for Chinese Taipei"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens"
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | What was Lea's role in Louder? | 1 | What was Lea's role in Louder? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"Louder refers to an increase in loudness.\n\nLouder may also refer to:\n\nPersons\nAlexis Louder, American actress\nAlison Louder, Canadian actress\nEarle Louder, musician specialising in playing euphonium, professor of music\nJeff Louder (born 1977), American road racing cyclist\n\nMusic\n Louder (Lea Michele album)\n \"Louder\" (Lea Michele song), single from Lea Michele album above\n Louder (R5 album)\nLouder Tour, 2014 concert tour by R5 to promote their album above\nLouder!, an album by Sofía Reyes\n \"Louder\" (Charice song)\n \"Louder\" (DJ Fresh song)\n \"Louder\" (DJ MuscleBoy song)\n \"Louder\" (Neon Jungle song)\n \"Louder\" (Parade song)\n \"Louder\", a song by All That Remains from the album Madness, 2017\n Louder, or Louder Sound, formerly Metal Hammer, music magazine by Future plc\n\nSee also\nLouder, Louder!, debut album by American rock band Killola\nLoud (disambiguation)",
"\"Love Is Alive\" is a single by American singer Lea Michele. It was released on March 3, 2017 by Columbia Records as the lead single from her sophomore album, Places (2017). The song was written by Chantal Kreviazuk and Nathan Chapman, and produced by Xandy Barry.\n\nTheme and composition\nIn an interview with People, Michele said that \"Love Is Alive\" was the song that \"represented where [she is] personally in [her] life right now.\" She also stated, \"It made me so happy while recording it, and I hope it brings the same light and joy to everyone else as it has for me.\" The song was written by Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and record producer Nathan Chapman, who is primarily known for his work in country music.\n\nLive performances\nMichele performed the song live for the first time on The Late Late Show with James Corden on March 14, 2017, marking her first time as a musical guest on the show. Michele's appearance was met with positive reviews; Billboard Lauren Tom wrote, \"The emotional performance showcased Michele's strong vocal ability and fit perfectly with all of the powerful moments of the song.\" Idolator's Mike Wass wrote, \"I'm not sure what it says about the state of the music industry when simply standing in front of a microphone and singing in key feels like a revolutionary act, but Lea Michele's appearance on The Late Late Show was a breath of fresh air. After struggling to find a niche in the pop world with debut LP, Louder, the 30-year-old has seemingly turned her back on it altogether on Places – and the music is all the better for it.\"\n\nCritical reception\nIdolator's Mike Wass said the song represents a departure from her debut studio album, writing \"[It is] a lot more subdued and refined than the heavily produced ballads on Louder, and feels like a more organic fit.\" Michiel Vos from A Bit of Pop Music wrote, \"In comparison to the stunning but trend chasing \"Cannonball\" ... the new track is a lot more traditional. It is a proper ballad, mostly based on piano which later is joined by an orchestra of strings. [Michele] delivers some serious big diva vocals and the chorus of the track soars beautifully. This is absolutely not in touch with what is hot in the charts at the moment, but that seems to be the exact point.\"\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2017 singles\n2017 songs\nLea Michele songs\nColumbia Records singles\nPop ballads\nSongs written by Nathan Chapman (record producer)\nSongs written by Chantal Kreviazuk"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album."
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | Who produced her solo album? | 2 | Who produced Lea Michele's solo album? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | false | [
"Tanya Gallagher is an American indie folk singer-songwriter from Pensacola, Florida.\n\nCareer\nGallagher attended the University of West Florida where she received her Bachelors and Master's in Environmental Science. While at UWF, she formed the band, Baylen, which released their first record \"It's Been So Long\" in 2007. \n\nGallagher released her first solo album, \"Oh My Love,\" in 2013. In 2016, she released her second solo album, \"Virginia.\" \n\nIn July 2019, Gallagher released a six-track EP, \"One Hand on my Heart.\" The album was produced by Daniel Mendez of Head Above Water Music at Matchbox Studios in Austin, Texas.\n\nDiscography\nIt's Been So Long (Baylen, 2007)\nOh My Love (Solo Album, 2013)\nVirginia (Solo Album, 2016)\nOne Hand on my Heart (Solo EP, 2019)\n\nReferences\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nIndie folk musicians\nSingers from Florida\nUniversity of West Florida alumni",
"This is a list of albums and singles by Siti Nurhaliza where she has sold an estimated of more than 6 million records in Asian market especially in Malaysian and Indonesian markets out of her 15 years of singing career. Within five years, the sales for her first six albums have already reached 1 million units in the Malaysian market and another 500 000 units from the Indonesian market. Her debut album was revealed to sold more than 800,000 copies and eight out of 15 of her solo albums have received either Gold, Platinum or multiple platinum certifications from Malaysia and Indonesia.\n\nIn 2000, her album sales alone contributed to 10 percent of Malaysia's total album sales. To date, her discography consists of 17 solo studio albums, 2 duet albums, 11 live albums, 9 compilation albums with more than 250 songs and singles. She has also released 70 music videos.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nSpecial album\n\nCollaborative albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nSolo compilation albums\n\nIndonesian solo compilation albums\n\nDuet/group compilation albums\n\nOther albums\n\nInstrumental albums\n\nRemix album\n\nSoundtracks\n\nOther songs\nSongs from Indonesian version of Siti's albums\n\nSongs/singles from non-solo studio or duet compilation albums\n\nSongs/singles from a group compilation or special works\n\nVideography\n\nSolo video albums\n\nSolo compilation video albums\n\nSpecial video albums\n\nDVD albums\n\nDuet video albums\n\nFootnotes\n Note 1: Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) divided the charts based on whether the albums are locally or internationally produced. It also has separate chart for compilation albums.\n Note 2: This album could be charted higher than stated here, since the data by the Billboard starting to be available early 1997 whereas the album was released in April 1996.\n Note 3: For an album that was produced before 2003, an album has to have achieved a sale of 50,000 units to get single Platinum certification.\n Note 4: The sale for the first four months.\n Note 5: Not to be confused with the song she entered for the 2009 1Malaysia song competition which also bears the same.\n\nSee also\n List of songs recorded by Siti Nurhaliza\n\nReferences\n\nDiscographies of Malaysian artists\nPop music discographies\nDiscography"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | When was the album released? | 3 | When was the album Louder released? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | released on December 10, 2013. | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"When the Bough Breaks is the second solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. It was originally released on April 27, 1997, on Cleopatra Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Hate\" – 5:00\n\"Children Killing Children\" – 3:51\n\"Growth\" – 5:45\n\"When I was a Child\" – 4:54\n\"Please Help Mommy (She's a Junkie)\" – 6:40\n\"Shine\" – 5:06\n\"Step Lightly (On the Grass)\" – 5:59\n\"Love & Innocence\" – 1:00\n\"Animals\" – 6:32\n\"Nighthawks Stars & Pines\" – 6:45\n\"Try Life\" – 5:35\n\"When the Bough Breaks\" – 9:45\n\nCD Cleopatra CL9981 (US 1997)\n\nMusicians\n\nBill Ward - vocals, lyrics, musical arrangements\nKeith Lynch - guitars\nPaul Ill - bass, double bass, synthesizer, tape loops\nRonnie Ciago - drums\n\nCover art and reprint issues\n\nAs originally released, this album featured cover art that had two roses on it. After it was released, Bill Ward (as with Ward One, his first solo album) stated on his website that the released cover art was not the correct one that was intended to be released. Additionally, the liner notes for the original printing had lyrics that were so small, most people needed a magnifying glass to read them. This was eventually corrected in 2000 when the version of the album with Bill on the cover from the 70's was released. The album was later on released in a special digipak style of case, but this was later said to be released prematurely, and was withdrawn.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Bill Ward's site\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Black Sabbath Online\n\nBill Ward (musician) albums\nBlack Sabbath\n1997 albums\nCleopatra Records albums",
"Push Rewind is the debut solo album by American pop singer Chris Wallace. It was released digitally on September 4, 2012.\n\nThe album was taken off of iTunes in late 2013 and was re-released on March 4, 2014.\n\nBackground\nAfter Chris' previous band, The White Tie Affair broke up, Chris began working on a solo album.\n\nOn August 23, 2012, Chris tweeted that his first solo album, Push Rewind, would be available on iTunes on September 4. On September 4, 2012, his debut solo album was released via ThinkSay Records.\n\nRelease and promotion\n\nSingles\n\"Remember When (Push Rewind)\" was released as the lead single off of the album on June 12, 2012. The song was available for free for the week of September 4, 2012 as iTunes' Single of the Week to help promote the album. The song has so far reached number 2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.\n\n\"Keep Me Crazy\" was announced as the second single from the album. It was originally released to mainstream pop radio on April 22, 2013 but it was re-released on July 30, 2013.\n\nTrack listing\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2012 debut albums"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know.",
"When was the album released?",
"released on December 10, 2013."
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | How did the album do on the charts? | 4 | How did the album Louder do on the charts? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"This Is How We Do It is the debut studio album by Montell Jordan. The album peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and was certified platinum. The album also featured the single \"This Is How We Do It\", which made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and #1 on the Rhythmic Top 40. Another single, \"Somethin' 4 da Honeyz\", peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #18 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nMontell Jordan albums\n1995 debut albums\nDef Jam Recordings albums",
"\"Roll On\" is a song by British girl group Mis-Teeq. Produced by Blacksmith, it was recorded for the band's debut album, Lickin' on Both Sides (2001). The song was released on a double A-single along with a cover version of Montell Jordan's \"This Is How We Do It\" on 17 June 2002, marking the album's final single. Upon its release, it became another top-10 success for the band on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven.\n\nMusic video\nInstead of filming two separate music videos for the double A-side single, one music video was filmed combining both songs. The video opens with \"Roll On\", starting with a group of men playing basketball in a court. The three members of Mis-Teeq (Alesha Dixon, Su-Elise Nash and Sabrina Washington) arrive in a lowrider and watch the men play basketball, and occasionally join in. Then it changes to dusk and cuts to the single \"This Is How We Do It\". The music video was filmed in various parts of Los Angeles, California in the US.\n\nTrack listings\n\nUK CD single\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich BhangraHop edit)\n \"This Is How We Do It\" (Rishi Rich Mayfair edit)\n \"Roll On\" / \"This Is How We Do It\" (video)\n\nUK cassette single\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich BhangraHop edit)\n \"This Is How We Do It\" (Rishi Rich Mayfair edit)\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich radio mix)\n\nEuropean CD single\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich BhangraHop edit) – 3:45\n \"This Is How We Do It\" (Rishi Rich Mayfair edit) – 3:27\n\nAustralian CD single\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich radio mix)\n \"This Is How We Do It\" (Rishi Rich Mayfair edit)\n \"Roll On\" (Blacksmith Olde Skool mix)\n \"This Is How We Do It\" (Mayfair club rub)\n \"Roll On\" (Rishi Rich club mix)\n\nCharts\nAll entries charted with \"This Is How We Do It\" except where noted.\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2001 songs\n2002 singles\nMis-Teeq songs\nTelstar Records singles"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know.",
"When was the album released?",
"released on December 10, 2013.",
"How did the album do on the charts?",
"\"Cannonball\" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100,"
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | Was this the only single on the album? | 5 | Was Cannonball the only single on the album Louder? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"This is a comprehensive listing of official releases by Nick Lachey, an American pop singer. Nick has released four studio albums, eight singles, and four music videos under Motown Records, Universal Records and Jive Records.\n\nLachey's debut album, SoulO, was released on November 11, 2003 reached #51 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Two singles were released: \"Shut Up\" and \"This I Swear\". However, only the latter charted, where it reached #11 on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. \n\nHis second album, What's Left of Me, was released on May 9, 2006. It was a bigger success on the Billboard charts, where it reached a number 2 peak. The title track was released as the first single from the album and it became Lachey's first Top 10 single on the Hot 100. The following single, \"I Can't Hate You Anymore\", only reached number 87 on the Hot 100. A third and final single, \"Resolution\" was released, however, it only reached number 77 on the Pop 100 (now the Mainstream Top 40).\n\nIn 2009, two more singles were released. They were intended on being the lead singles for an upcoming third studio album, however, the album has been pushed back several times. It was expected that the album would be released sometime in 2010, however it was revealed in January 2010 that Lachey's label, Jive Records, have put the new album on hold indefinitely.\n\nAlbums\n\nSingles\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nDiscographies of American artists\nPop music discographies\nDiscography",
"Good Ol' Fashioned Love is the debut studio album by British-Irish doo-wop boy band The Overtones. The album was released on 1 November 2010 in the UK by Rhino Entertainment. The album was subsequently re-released on 8 March 2011, containing a number of new tracks. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and number 14 on the Irish Albums Chart. The album was released in Germany and Austria on 23 March 2012, renamed Gambling Man.\n\nThe album has sold 470,000 copies as of April 2018.\n\nSingles\n \"Gambling Man\" was released as the first single from the album on 8 October 2010. The track peaked at number 82 on the UK Singles Chart, and was later released as the album's lead single in international territories such as Germany and Austria.\n \"The Longest Time\", a cover of the Billy Joel original, was released as the second single from the album on 25 April 2011. It was the only cover version from the album to be released as a single.\n \"Second Last Chance\" was released as the third single from the album on 15 August 2011. It was the first single to be released from the Platinum edition of the album.\n \"Say What I Feel\" was released as the fourth and final single from the album on 16 December 2011. It was the second original song to be released from the album as a single. The track was co-written by 5ive member Sean Conlon and songwriter Peter-John Vetesse.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nGood Ol' Fashioned Love\n\nGambling Man\n\nYear-end charts\n\nGood Ol' Fashioned Love\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 debut albums\nThe Overtones albums"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know.",
"When was the album released?",
"released on December 10, 2013.",
"How did the album do on the charts?",
"\"Cannonball\" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100,",
"Was this the only single on the album?",
"Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: \"Battlefield\", \"Louder\", \"What Is Love?\", and \"You're Mine\"."
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | Did the album sell a lot of copies? | 6 | Did the album Louder sell a lot of copies? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"This is a list of the best-selling albums of recorded music in South Korea. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and the album must have sold at least 1 million copies. The best-selling album in South Korea as of 2021 is Map of the Soul: 7, by South Korean boy band BTS. The studio album, released in February 2020, became the best-selling album in South Korea of all time, with over 4.1 million copies sold in less than a month. Including figures based on illegal sales, Kim Gun-mo's 1995 studio album Wrongful Encounter is estimated to have sold at least 3.3 million copies, and held the record as the best-selling South Korean album for 24 years until it was broken by BTS with Map of the Soul: Persona in 2019.\n\nAll albums that have sold over one million copies in South Korea are by Korean artists, with the exception of Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard (1992) and Mariah Carey's Music Box (1993). BTS is the act with the most million-selling albums, having ten, followed by Kim Gun-mo, Shin Seung-hun, and Seo Taiji with six each. BTS' Love Yourself: Her became the first album released since 2001 to sell over 1 million copies in 2017, and BTS' Love Yourself: Answer became the first album to sell over 2 million copies since 2000 in 2018. BTS' Map of the Soul: Persona became the first album to sell over 3 million copies since 1997 in 2019, followed by Map of the Soul: 7 which became the first album ever to surpass 4 million sales in 2020. In 2013, the combined sales of Exo's XOXO and its repackage exceeded 1 million copies, and in 2019 BTS became the first act to sell 1 million copies of both an album and its repackage, with Wings and You Never Walk Alone each surpassing 1 million sales.\n\nOn September 10, 1998, the Korea Video & Record Distributors Association (KVRDA) published the first South Korean sales charts, tallying album sales figures for the month of August and the March-August semester. Between 1999 and 2007, the Music Industry Association of Korea (MIAK) published monthly charts, with fifty chart positions and detailed sales for each album. Following the sharp decline of domestic music sales in the 21st century, the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) introduced the Gaon Album Chart in February 2010, which included a detailed breakdown of online chart data. The KMCA began awarding sales certifications for albums in April 2018—only albums released after January 1, 2018 are eligible. Certifications are not included in this list, because the Gaon Music Chart publishes detailed album sales.\n\nLegend\n\n2 million or more copies\n\n1 million–1.9 million copies\n\nBest-selling album by year\nSales of standard release and reissue albums in a year. This list does not include sales of the same album in other years apart from the specified calendar year. For a list of total sales, see sections above.\n\nSee also\n List of best-selling singles in South Korea\n List of certified albums in South Korea\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSouth Korea\nSouth Korean music-related lists",
"is the third studio album and debut major Japanese release by South Korean girl group Kara. It was released on November 24, 2010 in four editions: CD+DVD, CD+Photobook (28-pages), CD-Only First Press coming with Korean versions of the songs \"Sweet Days\", \"Love Is\", and \"Binks\" and a CD-Only Normal Press coming with no bonus tracks. The album has topped the Oricon Weekly Album Charts several times and was eventually certified as Double Platinum by the RIAJ.\n\nComposition \nThe album contains two original Japanese songs. There are five songs that were included on the group's fourth Korean mini-album Jumping (2010) including \"Sweet Days\" which was titled \"With\" on the mini-album and the second single Jumping. There are two songs which was previously released in Korean on their third mini-album Lupin (2010) and these are \"Lupin\" and \"Umbrella\". The debut single, Mister was previously released in Korean on their second studio album Revolution (2009).\n\nChart performance \n\nGirl's Talk had sold over 107,000 copies which placed on number 2 at the Oricon Weekly Album charts, behind Hikaru Utada's Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2, which sold over 231,000 copies in the same week. This is the first time in 6 years and 9 months for a foreign Asian girl group to sell over 100,000 copies on its first week in Japan since Twelve Girls Band did back in March 2004 with the release of their album Kikō: Shining Energy. The album's first week sales doubles that of Kara Best 2007–2010 first week sales (51,000 copies) which was released back in September.\n\nThe album spent 14 weeks in the Top 10 spot of the Oricon Weekly Album charts. It was eventually certified Platinum by the RIAJ. On February 12, 2011, the album eventually peaked at number one after spending over 12 weeks in the charts, making it their first number-one album. The album managed to sell over 300,000 copies making them the first foreign female group to sell over 300,000 copies since Destiny's Child's #1's (2005). On November 18, 2011, it was announced that the album had already sold over 500,000 copies.\n\nTrack listings\n\nCharts\n\nOricon\n\nSingles and other songs charted\n\nCertifications\n\nSources \n\n2010 albums\nDance-pop albums by South Korean artists\nKara (South Korean band) albums\nUniversal Records albums\nJapanese-language albums"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know.",
"When was the album released?",
"released on December 10, 2013.",
"How did the album do on the charts?",
"\"Cannonball\" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100,",
"Was this the only single on the album?",
"Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: \"Battlefield\", \"Louder\", \"What Is Love?\", and \"You're Mine\".",
"Did the album sell a lot of copies?",
"debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week."
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | Was the album nominated for any awards? | 7 | Was the album Louder nominated for any awards? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
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Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"American singer and actress Ariana Grande has won more than 186 awards throughout her career. Her debut album Yours Truly was released in 2013 and debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album spawned three singles \"The Way\", \"Baby I\" and \"Right There\", all which reached the Hot 100. That same year, she won New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She played a titular role in the teen sitcom Sam & Cat (2013–14), for which she won a Favorite TV Actress award at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.\n\nIn 2014, Grande released her second studio album, My Everything, preceded by its lead single \"Problem\". At the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards, \"Problem\" won the Best Pop Video award, and garnered three nominations, including Best Female Video. The single also won Best Song at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards. She won the Favorite Breakout Artist award at the 40th ceremony of the People's Choice Awards. At the 2014 Young Hollywood Awards, Grande earned three nominations, including Hottest Music Artist. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Grande was nominated for two awards. In 2015, she won another American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and an iHeartRadio Music Award for Best Collaboration for \"Bang Bang\". She has won a total of ten Teen Choice Awards and six Radio Disney Music Awards.\n\nIn 2016, Grande released her third studio album, Dangerous Woman. She was nominated for five awards at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, which included Best Pop Video and Best Female Video for her second single \"Into You\". She won the American Music Award for Artist of the Year. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Grande was nominated for two more awards, for Best Pop Solo Performance for her single \"Dangerous Woman\" as well as Best Pop Vocal Album, her second nomination in that category. In 2017, she was nominated for Artist of the Year at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.\n\nIn 2018, Grande released her fourth studio album, Sweetener, releasing lead single \"No Tears Left to Cry\". Grande was nominated for five awards at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Video of the Year for \"No Tears Left to Cry\", but ultimately won Best Pop Video for the latter song. In December 2018, Grande was named Billboards Woman of the Year. In 2019, Grande released her fifth studio album, Thank U, Next, which includes the lead single \"Thank U, Next\". Grande was nominated for two awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, winning her first award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Sweetener. She was also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance for Sweeteners second single, \"God is a Woman\". Grande also won the award for International Female Solo Artist at the 2019 Brit Awards. Grande was nominated for nine awards at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist; she won two awards, for Billboard Chart Achievement and Top Female Artist. Grande was also nominated for 12 awards at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year for \"Thank U, Next\". She won three awards, including Artist of the Year. Grande was also nominated for five Grammy awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Thank U, Next and Record of the Year for \"7 Rings\". \n\nGrande was nominated for nine VMAs at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year for \"Rain on Me\" with Lady Gaga. Grande would go on to win a Grammy Award at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for \"Rain on Me\" with Lady Gaga, marking it the first female-collaboration to win the award. As of 2021, Grande has broken 27 Guinness World Records. At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, Grande was nominated for three awards, for Best Pop Vocal Album for her sixth studio album, Positions, which became her fifth consecutive nomination in this category, tied for the most by any artist, and Best Pop Solo Performance for the single, \"Positions\", where she also tied for the most nominations in this category with four total. Furthermore, for her work on Doja Cat's third studio album, Planet Her, as a collaborator and songwriter on the track, \"I Don't Do Drugs\", she was nominated for Album of the Year for the second time. In 2021, Grande appeared in the film Don't Look Up, directed and written by Adam McKay, playing the character Riley Bina. For her role in the film, as well as for her contributions to the film's song, \"Just Look Up\", written and performed by Grande, she has received numerous nominations, including a Critics Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.\n\nAwards and nominations\n\nOther accolades\n\nWorld records\n\nState honors\n\nSee also\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nAwards\nGrande, Ariana",
"Demi Lovato has won 66 awards from 222 nominations for their work in music, film, and television. Lovato starred in the lead role on Camp Rock (2008), for which they were nominated for Best Performance in a TV Movie – Leading Young Actress at the 30th Young Artist Awards. They also played the titular role in the Disney Channel original series Sonny with a Chance (2009–2011), for which they won Choice TV – Breakout Star Female at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards and Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy at the 2011 ALMA Awards.\n\nIn 2009, Lovato released their second studio album Here We Go Again. The album reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and was nominated for Choice Pop Album at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. In 2011, their third studio album Unbroken followed, featuring two singles \"Skyscraper\" and \"Give Your Heart a Break\". At the 29th annual MTV Video Music Awards, \"Skyscraper\" won Best Video with a Message and Choice Music: Summer Song at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards. \"Give Your Heart a Break\" was nominated for two awards at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards: Choice Summer Song and Choice Love Song. In 2013, Lovato's fourth studio album Demi was released along with four singles: \"Heart Attack\", \"Made in the USA\", \"Neon Lights\" and \"Really Don't Care\". \"Heart Attack\" was nominated for Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and won International Video of the Year - Artist at the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards. \"Made in the USA\" won Favorite Roadtrip Song at the 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards and \"Really Don't Care\" was nominated for Best Lyric Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards.\n\nLovato's fifth studio album Confident followed in 2015. The lead single \"Cool for the Summer\" was nominated for Song of Summer at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2017, they released their sixth studio album Tell Me You Love Me, featuring lead single \"Sorry Not Sorry\". The single was nominated for two awards at the MTV Video Music Awards: once for Song of Summer at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and again for Best Pop at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. It was also nominated for Best Pop at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards. Lovato was nominated for three awards at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Female Artist, and received a nomination for Favorite Social Artist at the 2018 American Music Awards. Lovato was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for the song \"Fall in Line\" with Christina Aguilera. Among other awards, Lovato has received four ASCAP Awards and four BMI Awards for songwriting and composing the singles \"Heart Attack\", \"Neon Lights\", \"Cool for the Summer\", \"Sorry Not Sorry\" and \"Tell Me You Love Me\". Lovato has received numerous awards for their activism and philanthropic work, including the Acuvue Inspire Award at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, the GLAAD Vanguard Award and the Young Luminary Award at the unite4:humanity gala. Lovato was nominated for two VMAs at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards for \"I Love Me\".\n\nAwards and nominations\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nAwards\nLovato"
]
|
[
"Lea Michele",
"2013-2016: Louder and Scream Queens",
"What was Lea's role in Louder?",
"it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album.",
"Who produced her solo album?",
"I don't know.",
"When was the album released?",
"released on December 10, 2013.",
"How did the album do on the charts?",
"\"Cannonball\" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100,",
"Was this the only single on the album?",
"Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: \"Battlefield\", \"Louder\", \"What Is Love?\", and \"You're Mine\".",
"Did the album sell a lot of copies?",
"debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week.",
"Was the album nominated for any awards?",
"She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress:"
]
| C_788aae6245064b87b98cc1b3619be1ea_0 | What other awards was it nominated for? | 8 | Besides nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress,What other awards was Louder nominated for? | Lea Michele | On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014. Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House. In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. CANNOTANSWER | Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. | Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and won four People's Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards and a Satellite Award. Michele and the rest of the Glee cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from four nominations and three Grammy Award nominations for music recorded for the series, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. Michele subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).
Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).
Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in The Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.
Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.
Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts training center in the Catskills. At Stagedoor she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Career
1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.
Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.
In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. She also debuted her solo cabaret Once Upon a Dream at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Michele was included on Time list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.
In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.
2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.
Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.
In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.
2017–2019: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the second album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.
On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019–present: Further television work, Christmas in the City and Forever
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC. From December 19, 2019, Lea Michele performed live with a series of shows in The Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Michele released her cover album, Forever: A Lullaby ALbum, on November 5, 2021.
Philanthropy
Michele supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, performing in December 2007 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for Unsung: 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty. She has also participated in Broadway Barks, Broadway Bares, the Easter Bonnet Competition, and the Flea Market and Grand Auction. Michele has been active in campaigning for animal rights; in 2008, she appeared in the PETA advertising campaign "Buck Cruelty! Say No to Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides". In 2008, Michele performed in a benefit concert production of Alive in the World to aid the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. In support of gay rights, she performed at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in November 2009. In the same month, Michele and Jonathan Groff performed for True Colors Cabaret, a fundraiser in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. In April 2010, Michele appeared in a public service announcement for PETA, speaking out against fur clothing. In September 2010, Michele was honored by PETA for her work with animals. In 2010 Lea Michele was introduced in Time 100 list for her incredible artistic talent and the ability to influence student participation in school activities.
In October 2010, Michele performed at a benefit concert for The Painted Turtle. The concert celebrated the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Michele playing the lead role of Janet Weiss. In February 2011, she performed for the Grammy Award's MusiCares benefit in Los Angeles. In April 2012, Michele performed for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation's 17th annual signature fundraiser, Taste for a Cure, at UCLA with her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In October 2012, she and Criss performed together at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles 2012 Stars Gala. In July 2012, Michele hosted the launch of the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction, donating a signed hand print to be auctioned off. Money raised from the auction benefited Habitat for Humanity's disaster response programs. Michele has been an ambassador for L'Oréal's Women of Worth program since December 2012, celebrating women who have positively impacted their communities. In June 2013, she co-hosted the launch of Feed America for Target stores. Proceeds from the lifestyle collection benefited Feeding America.
In August 2013, Michele once again donated a hand print to the Valspar Hands for Habitat charity auction. She was then the host of the fundraiser "Lea Michele's Night of Shopping and Cocktails" on December 14, 2013, presented by SodaStream, which benefited Chrysalis, a non-profit organization helping homeless people find work. In April 2014, Michele and Darren Criss once again performed together at the 19th annual Taste for a Cure event for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. In October 2014, she teamed up with Evian to encourage women to perform their own breast exams in an attempt to raise awareness of early cancer detection. In February 2016, it was announced that Michele would collaborate with Burt's Bees in a campaign to act on the declining population of bees.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which Michele and other celebrities told the stories of the people killed there. Michele continues to support the Los Angeles-based non-profit Step Up and attends their annual Step Up Inspiration Awards event. In April 2017, Barnes & Noble donated a portion of every purchase of Places to Step Up. In November 2017, Michele partnered with eBay to design a pin to benefit Feeding America; she also auctioned off a set visit to one of her projects in 2018. In April 2019, she performed for the "A Grand Night" fundraising gala held at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. On May 1, 2019, Michele joined Former First Lady Michelle Obama at Reach Higher's 2019 College Signing Day. On November 24, 2019 she visited ill children at Children's Health Care of Atlanta.
Artistry
Influences
One of the most significant influential figures in Michele's life is Barbra Streisand whom she cites as her "role model". Her mother Edith would play her films when she was a child. Michele dedicated a chapter in her book Brunette Ambition to Streisand, noting that it is important for people to have someone to look up to. Michele wrote, "I really love her, she's always been such a role model to me. She's someone who has built her career on focusing on what makes her unique and what makes her special." An actress who influenced Michele was Natalie Wood. Michele said that she would watch West Side Story as a child and want to play the role of Maria.
Actress and singer Audra McDonald has also been an influence on Michele. She told The Fresno Bee, "Audra is probably the best singer in the world – up there with Barbra. I don't think she has any idea what an influence she had on me. I would say 80% of my singing knowledge came from Audra... How to warm up. How to breathe. How to take care of my voice. All of my beliefs are because Audra instilled them in me." Recording artist Alanis Morissette has been an inspiration throughout Michele's career. Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill was the first album Michele purchased, and in a 2014 interview has said she still owns. She said, "I love Alanis Morissette... All of her songs are lyrically so beautiful and vocally she's so strong." Celine Dion has also influenced her as a singer.
Voice
Michele possesses a soprano vocal range. As of 2013, her voice reportedly spans 2.7 octaves and one semitone. Michele's vocals have been repeatedly praised; however, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone critiqued that Michele's voice is "a little too perfect" for pop music charts. The Boston Globe stated that her voice is a "mighty soprano" and that Michele's vocals are most comfortable when she "straddles the line between Katy Perry and Celine Dion." Hanh Nguyen wrote of Michele's voice on the Glee Live! In Concert! tour, "One can truly hear the quality of the live vocals, which in the case of Lea Michele is the real deal. She sounds even better than on the show... Her "Don't Rain On My Parade" live is an amazing and thrilling treat." Billboard called her live performance of "Love Is Alive" on The Late Late Show with James Corden an "emotional performance [that] showcased Michele's strong vocal ability."
Product endorsements
In 2007, along with her Spring Awakening co-stars, Michele was featured in a Gap Inc. marketing campaign. The campaign included magazine advertisement spreads and billboards in Times Square. In 2010, Michele became a spokesmodel for beauty company Dove, performing the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music in television commercials for the brand. The following year, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, along with most of her Glee co-stars. She performed the song "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" as Rachel Berry. Also in 2011, Michele became a spokesperson for a Nike workout application. In September 2011, she appeared in commercials for the HP TouchPad.
In January 2012, Candie's announced that Michele would be the spokesmodel for their brand, taking over from Vanessa Hudgens who was the face of the brand for the previous year. In September 2012, it was revealed that Michele had signed an estimated $1 million deal to be a spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. She has appeared in magazine spreads and television commercials promoting their products. In September 2015, Pixelberry Studios announced their collaboration with Michele, launching High School Story with Lea Michele, a celebrity takeover update of their popular app. In December 2018 Michele teamed with Old Navy and Lyft to announce free car sharing to stores for holidays. In February 2019, Michele appeared in a commercial for ZOLA, a wedding planning website.
Personal life
Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.
On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to businessman Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Napa, California. On May 2, 2020, Michele announced that she and Reich were expecting their first child. Michele gave birth to a boy named Ever Leo on August 20, 2020.
Controversy
In June 2020, actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of being very rude to her and causing "traumatic microaggressions" while they worked together on the sixth season of Glee. Ware made her comments in direct response to Michele having posted a message on social media saying "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLives Matter". Other actors, including former Glee co-stars Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Melissa Benoist, and Amber Riley, among others, confirmed Michele had been hostile and rude to others on set, but Riley and Morris disputed the implication that Michele's behavior had been racist. Michele responded with an apology, noting that the comments from numerous cast members in response to Ware's accusation had made her aware that her general treatment of all cast members during those years was "insensitive or inappropriate", a sign of "immaturity", and that she was "unnecessarily difficult" towards others around her, and she would "keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions." On June 2, 2020, HelloFresh announced they had ended their partnership with Michele as a result of the controversy.
Works and awards
Tours
Concert tours
An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele (2017)
LM/DC Tour (with Darren Criss) (2018)
Concerts and residencies
Once Upon a Dream (2008)
Christmas in NYC: Live in Concert (2019)
Spring Awakening reunion Concert (2021)
Promotional tours
Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–2011)
See also
Lea Michele credits
List of awards and nominations received by Lea Michele
Glee discography
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
1986 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from New Jersey
Actresses from New York City
American child actresses
American child singers
American women pop singers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American people of Italian descent
American sopranos
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women activists
Child pop musicians
Columbia Records artists
HIV/AIDS activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
LGBT rights activists from the United States
New Jersey Democrats
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
People from Tenafly, New Jersey
People from the Bronx
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from New York City
Tenafly High School alumni | true | [
"This is a list of awards won by American actress and singer Idina Menzel.\n\nTheatre Awards\n\nObie Awards\nMenzel won an Obie Award for Special Citations for her part in the 1995 off-Broadway production of Rent.\n\nBroadway.com Audience Awards\nIn 2004, Menzel won three Broadway.com Audience Awards for her role in Wicked; one for Favorite Actress in a Musical, one for Favorite Diva Performance, and one for Best Onstage Pair, which she won with co-star Kristin Chenoweth. In 2014, she won two more, for If/Then; Favorite Leading Actress in a Musical, and Favorite Onstage Pair, which she won with James Snyder. She was also nominated for Favorite Diva Performance, but lost to Neil Patrick Harris for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.\n\nDrama Desk Awards\nIn 2000, Menzel was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her role of Kate in the off-Broadway show The Wild Party. She then was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 2004 for her role in Wicked, and was nominated again in 2005 for her roles of Kesa, Lily, and Deanna in the off-Broadway musical See What I Wanna See, and in 2014 for her role in If/Then.\n\nDrama League Awards\nMenzel was first nominated for the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance in 2004 for her role in Wicked. She was nominated again in 2005 for See What I Wanna See and in 2014 for If/Then. Menzel received the 2018 Musical Achievement Award.\n\nTony Awards\nIn 1996, Menzel was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Maureen Johnson in the Rent. In 2004, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Elphaba in Wicked. She was nominated again in 2014 for her performance as Elizabeth Vaughan in the musical If/Then.\n\nFilm and Television Awards\n\nTeen Choice Awards\nShe was nominated in 2010 for Choice Music: Group for Glee and in 2014 for Choice Music: Single for Let it Go. She also won one for Choice Animated Movie: Voice for Frozen.\n\nSatellite Award\nIn 2014, she was nominated for Best Original Song for Let it Go.\n\nBehind the Voice Actors Awards\nMenzel won Best Female Vocal Performance in a Lead Role and Breakthrough Voice Actress of the Year for Frozen in 2014.\n\nMusic Awards\n\nAmerican Music Awards\nShe won the American Music Award for Top Soundtrack for the Frozen soundtrack in 2014.\n\nBillboard Music Awards\nMenzel won the 2014 Billboard Breakthrough Artist Award. She was nominated for a Top Streaming Award in 2015 for Let it Go, and won a Top Soundtrack Award for the soundtrack to Frozen.\\\n\nOther Awards\n\nCritics Awards\nMenzel was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2004 for her part in Wicked. She was nominated for a Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble for the film version of Rent in 2005, as well as two Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Song Performance, two Northeastern Critics Award for Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actress, and an Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Adapted Song. She was nominated for another one for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Glee in 2010, and for Best Voice Over Performance for Frozen in 2014, for which she won a Best Original Song one for singing Let it Go. For that role, she was also nominated for an Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Animated Female, a St. Louis Film Critics Association Award for Special Merit, and a world soundtrack award for Best Song Written for Film.\n\nOther Choice Awards\nShe won the Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2006 for Wicked in the West End. In 2010, she won Gay People's Choice Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Music Duo or Group for Glee. She was also nominated for a Lesbian/Bi People's Choice Award for Best Music Duo or Group.\n\nReferences\n\nMenzel, Idina",
"Stargate Atlantis is an American-Canadian military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The series was created by Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright as a spin-off series to Stargate SG-1. The series aired for five seasons and 100 episodes on the US Sci Fi Channel. Stargate Atlantis premiered on SCI FI on July 16, 2004; its final episode aired on January 9, 2009.\n\nSince 2005, Stargate Atlantis was nominated for various awards during its five-year run. Among them, the series has been nominated for four Emmy Awards, eleven Gemini Awards (two were won), 27 Leo Awards (ten were won), one Nebula Award, one People's Choice Award which was won, and two Visual Effects Society Awards. Out of the total 62 nominations, Stargate Atlantis won 19 awards.\n\nCanadian Screenwriting Awards\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for two Canadian Screenwriting Awards.\n\nChicago International Film Festival\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for one Silver Plaque in the Chicago International Film Festival, 2005.\n\nConstellation Awards\nThe series was nominated for two Constellation Awards.\n\nDGC Craft Awards\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for one DGC Craft Award by the Directors Guild of Canada.\n\nEmmy Awards\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for four Emmy Awards. From those, they were nominations for \"Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series\" twice, and one each for \"Outsdanding Main Title Theme Music\" and \"Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatical Underscore)\".\n\nGemini Awards\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for sixteen Gemini Awards. They were nominated for four awards in 2005, one in 2006, two in 2007, four in 2008, and five in 2009. In total, they won four awards.\n\nLeo Awards\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for a total of 27 Leo Awards, ten of which were for 2005, while the other 17 were for 2009.\n\nNebula Awards\nThe series was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2009.\n\nNew York Film Festival\nStargate Atlantis won a Bronze Worldmedal in the New York Film Festival in 2005.\n\nPeople's Choice Awards\nIn 2008, Stargate Atlantis was nominated for \"Best Sci-Fi Show\" for the 34th People's Choice Awards, where it was up against Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who.\n\nSaturn Awards\nThe series was nominated for two Saturn Awards in 2005, and for one in 2006.\n\nVisual Effects Society Awards\nTwo episodes were nominated for Visual Effects Society Awards. One was nominated in 2005, while the other was nominated in 2008. Both were nominated for \"Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series\".\n\nWorldFest-Houston International Film Festival\nStargate Atlantis was nominated for a First Place Platinum in the 2005 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.\n\nSee also\nList of Stargate SG-1 awards and nominations\nList of Stargate Universe awards and nominations\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Awards for Stargate Atlantis at IMDB\n\nStargate\nStargate"
]
|
[
"Michael Owen",
"Debut season"
]
| C_162d17e57ffc483495bc8333e99f0842_1 | What year was his debut season? | 1 | What year was Michael Owen's debut season? | Michael Owen | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1-0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5-0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford as he netted in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4-3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after netting in the Merseyside derby, El Clasico and the Tyne-Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important. On 27 October, Owen notched a goal in the 2-0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3-1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season. CANNOTANSWER | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. | Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.
Early life
Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.
Club career
Liverpool
At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.
In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.
1996–2000
Owen celebrated his seventeenth birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.
On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The Liverpool Echo stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."
Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The Liverpool Echo wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.
Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.
2000–2004
Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.
Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next Galáctico, stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."
Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.
Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."
Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.
After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.
Real Madrid
Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its Galácticos era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.
Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches.
On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 El Clásico win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.
Newcastle United
On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.
On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.
Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.
Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.
Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.
On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."
On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.
In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.
In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.
After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.
Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.
Under the transfer rules, with the 2008–09 season being the final year of his contract with Newcastle, Owen would have been allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs during January. On 22 December 2008, Owen rejected a new contract offer from Newcastle, but stated that he would not be seeking a move in the January transfer window and instead intended to postpone talks over his contract situation until the end of the season. With speculation over his future continuing in the second half of the season, Owen received "substantial damages" in June in the High Court in London and a public apology following a story on 15 May in the Daily Express alleging that due to a lack of interest from Premier League clubs, Owen's career was effectively finished and he intended to retire.
After a disastrous season in general for the club, which culminated in Owen's former Newcastle and England teammate Alan Shearer being brought in as a temporary manager for the final eight games of the season, on the final day of the season on 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. On 14 June, it was reported that Owen's management company Wasserman Media Group had sent out a 34-page brochure advertising Owen to several potential clubs. On 22 June, Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or another top-flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
In September 2019, Owen stated that he regretted his move to Newcastle. "I didn't want to go there – my heart was set on a return to Liverpool."
Manchester United
Debut season
On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Manchester United, arch rivals of Liverpool. A surprise move, Owen said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson was "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1–0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5–0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford, in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4–3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after scoring in the Merseyside derby, El Clásico and the Tyne–Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important.
On 27 October, Owen scored a goal in the 2–0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3–3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3–1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2–1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
2010–11
Owen scored his first goal for United back from injury in a 7–1 pre-season victory against a League of Ireland XI on 4 August 2010 at the newly built Aviva Stadium. On 22 September 2010, Owen scored twice during a 5–2 away win over Scunthorpe United in the third round of the League Cup, his first goals of the season. Four days later, Owen scored his first league goal of the season, United's second equaliser with his first touch in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers. Owen's first goal of 2011 came in United's 2–1 FA Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on 29 January. On 25 February, United manager Alex Ferguson said that Owen was a key part of his squad for the rest of the season. However, he suffered a groin injury and missed his team's next four games. His return match was on 19 March when he returned to the bench for United's game against Bolton.
By the time of United's penultimate game of the season, he had reached the number of league appearances required for a title winner's medal – his first in 15 seasons as a professional. The game, on 14 May 2011, only required United to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to win the title, and a 1–1 draw secured it for them. Owen was an unused substitute in the game. Owen scored United's final goal in their last league game of the season, at home to Blackpool, in which the Red Devils won 4–2.
Owen was an unused substitute in Man United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, marking the end of his season. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 1 June 2011.
2011–12
Owen started his first game of the season in the third round of the League Cup against Leeds United. He scored two goals in the first half, helping United to progress to the fourth round with a 3–0 win. His first goal came after he advanced to the box and scuffed a shot into the corner of the net. The second goal came on the half-hour mark, when he met Mame Biram Diouf's cross with instant control, before firing a right foot shot into the top. Owen started his second game of the season in the fourth round of the League Cup, against League Two club Aldershot Town. He scored the second goal of the 3–0 win. Dimitar Berbatov completed a run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into the box, with Owen scoring past Ross Worner.
Owen started in United's home Champions League group stage match against Oțelul Galați on 2 November, however he was substituted early in the first half when he pulled up with a thigh injury; this was his last appearance for the team. In February 2012, Owen started light training with the Manchester United squad. From April 2012, Owen started full training but was not yet ready for first team games. On 13 May 2012, Owen was named as a substitute against Sunderland in United's final fixture, but he was not brought on.
On 17 May 2012, Owen announced on Twitter that Manchester United would not be offering him a new deal, ending his three-year association with the club.
Stoke City
On 4 September 2012, Owen joined Stoke City on a one-year contract. He was handed the number 10 shirt from the departed Ricardo Fuller and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City on 15 September. The start to his time at Stoke was hampered by a hamstring injury. Owen scored his first and only goal for Stoke on 19 January 2013 in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal since 25 October 2011. In doing so, he became only the seventh player to reach 150 Premier League goals.
On 19 March 2013, Owen announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season. He was restricted to just eight Premier League appearances for Stoke, all coming from the substitutes bench, including in his final appearance on 19 May 2013 against Southampton, where he received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.
International career
Owen was capped 89 times for England and scored 40 goals. He is sixth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Wayne Rooney (53), Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Lineker (48), Harry Kane (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He is also England's second-highest goalscorer in competitive international matches, behind Rooney. His 89 caps also place him as England's eleventh most capped player.
Owen played for England at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. He scored goals in all but one of these tournaments, making him the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.
Emergence
Owen had a highly successful record at Youth level, playing for the England under-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and scoring three goals in four games. He played once for the England under-21 team, scoring in a win over Greece at Carrow Road.
He made his debut for the England senior team in a 2–0 friendly loss to Chile on 11 February 1998. This made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age.
Owen's youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the country, and many fans were keen for him to be selected for the 1998 World Cup in France. In a pre-World Cup friendly against Morocco, Owen scored his first goal for England. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
1998 World Cup
Owen was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute in the opening match against Tunisia. In the following match, a 2–1 defeat to Romania, Owen again appeared as a substitute. His equalising goal made him England's youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days. In stoppage time, he hit the post with a long range shot, almost salvaging a point from the game. Because of his impact against Romania, Hoddle selected Owen in the starting line-up for England's decisive group match against Colombia. England won the match and Owen retained his place for the second round match against Argentina.
After Argentina had taken a sixth-minute lead, Owen was fouled in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala and Alan Shearer equalised with the penalty kick. In the 16th minute, Owen gave England a 2–1 lead with a sensational individual goal. After beating defenders Ayala and José Chamot, he struck the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Roa from just outside the penalty box. In 2013, the goal was voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually drew the match and went out of the tournament on penalties, with Owen successfully converting his kick. At the end of the year, he won a public vote to be elected winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title.
Euro 2000
Owen started the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying phase as a regular in the England starting line-up. However, injury problems meant he missed much of the campaign as England struggled, with Hoddle being replaced by Kevin Keegan. On 4 September 1999, he scored his first goal at Wembley Stadium in a 6–0 win over Luxembourg.
At the finals, Owen scored once in three matches, as England were knocked out at the group stage.
2002 World Cup
After Alan Shearer's retirement, Owen took over as England's senior striker under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He scored six times during 2002 World Cup qualifying, including a hat-trick against Germany at Munich's Olympiastadion, as England won the qualifying group. His performances saw him named European Footballer of the Year for 2001.
In April 2002, he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore in 1963, and in the following few seasons regularly deputised for Beckham as Eriksson's vice-captain.
At the 2002 World Cup finals, Owen failed to score during the group stage. However, he was fouled for England's match winning penalty kick in the 1–0 win over Argentina. Owen scored in England's second round match against Denmark and then gave England an early lead in the 2–1 quarter-final defeat against Brazil.
Euro 2004
Owen scored five times in qualification for Euro 2004.
At the tournament proper, Owen again failed to score during the group stage. He then scored in the third minute of the quarter-final with Portugal, becoming the first England player to score in four consecutive major tournaments. England went on to lose on penalties after a 2–2 draw.
2006 World Cup
In qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Owen scored five goals.
In May 2005, he scored his second international hat-trick in a friendly match against Colombia at Giants Stadium. In another pre-World Cup friendly, Owen scored two late goals to give England a 3–2 win over rivals Argentina in November 2005.
Owen made his debut for the England B-team in a friendly against Belarus on 25 May 2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 World Cup. He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being substituted.
Owen started England's first two games of the 2006 World Cup, against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, but did not manage to score. After playing only 51 seconds of his third appearance of the tournament, and 80th cap, in the final group game against Sweden, Owen badly twisted his right knee and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. A scan of the injury on 21 June confirmed that Owen had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the tournament. In March 2009, Owen admitted that all injuries he was sustaining were relating back to his injury in the 2006 World Cup tournament, and that he should not have returned prematurely from injury to participate in the competition.
Final appearances
Owen underwent successful reconstruction surgery, carried out by Richard Steadman, on 6 September 2006. The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed England's first six matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the England B game against Albania, and was named in the full squad for the first England match at the new Wembley Stadium against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia, with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal." He played in both matches and scored against Estonia, breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals in competitive internationals for England.
On 12 September 2007, Owen scored twice for England in a 3–0 win over Russia, becoming the first player to score international goals at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums. These were to be Owen's final goals for England.
After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, manager Steve McClaren was replaced by Fabio Capello. Owen made only one appearance under Capello, as a substitute in a friendly against France in March 2008.
Style of play
In his prime, Owen was highly regarded for his great pace, opportunism and agility, as well as his technical ability and his eye for goal, which enabled him to be considered one of the greatest English and Premier League strikers of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, Owen was a powerful and accurate finisher, who was also effective with his head, despite his lack of height. He was also capable of linking up with and creating chances for teammates due to his short passing ability and vision. Despite, or even due to, his precocious talent in his youth, Owen faced many injuries throughout his career, which in later years affected his pace, fitness, mobility and the overall consistency of his performances.
Personal life
Owen met Louise Bonsall at primary school in 1984. The couple bought Lower Soughton Manor in Flintshire, North Wales, where they keep his cars and her horses. They were engaged on 14 February 2004, and married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in Chester, Cheshire. The couple had initially planned to get married at their home, but changed plans when they were informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be made available for other weddings for three years, so opted to marry in a register office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in the grounds of their home.
Their daughter, Gemma Rose, was born on 1 May 2003. On 6 February 2006, they had a son named James Michael. Their third child, a daughter, Emily May, was born on 29 October 2007. Their fourth child Jessica was born on 26 February 2010.
After Owen returned to the UK to play for Newcastle, he travelled to a nearby BAE Systems facility on a daily basis in order to fly, by helicopter, to train with his club. However, there is now a helipad installed within the grounds of the house to accommodate Owen's Eurocopter Dauphin, with which he both travels and is training to become a pilot. Owen was eventually banned from training to be a pilot by Newcastle United due to excessive insurance premiums.
Owen also bought an entire street for his extended family in Ewloe, which is in an area close to where he used to live.
In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she was pregnant, they fled.
Owen owns several cars and a helicopter and enjoys horse racing and gambling. He owns many race horses, trained by Tom Dascombe. He bred the horse Brown Panther which won a major race at Royal Ascot in 2011, and the 2015 Dubai Gold Cup. Owen was a brand ambassador for British bookmaker Colossus Bets.
On 24 November 2017, Owen rode on Calder Prince at Ascot and finished second, beaten by Tom Chatfield-Roberts on Golden Wedding. He was one of 10 amateur riders to take part in the seven-furlong 'Prince's Countryside Fund Charity' contest, which was attended by HRH Prince Charles and HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
Owen starred in a series of adverts that charted his life and rise to fame. In 2001, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal "Nestlé Sporties". He also appeared in several adverts for the washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1 million. Owen was selected as one of the two cover athletes for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. He has been an ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998 and has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar.
Owen also starred as himself in the children's television drama show Hero to Zero. In the programme, Owen would emerge from a full size poster of himself in Charlie Brice's room to offer advice in times of crisis.
Owen had indicated that he would like to become involved with Chester in some capacity when he retires, as it was his local team growing up and his father played for the old Chester side which went out of business in March 2010 and was reformed at a lower level.
In January 2018, Owen participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief, winning the episode.
In January 2022, Owen appeared on the third series of The Masked Singer as "Doughnuts". He was seventh to be unmasked.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Owen goal.
Honours
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2000–01
Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Charity Shield: 2001
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
Manchester United
Premier League: 2010–11
Football League Cup: 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 2010
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 2001
World Soccer World Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2000–01
Onze d'Argent: 2001
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998
Premier League Golden Boot: 1997–98, 1998–99
Premier League Player of the Season: 1997–98
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1997–98
PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Month: August 1998
FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: France 1998
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998 (Reserve)
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: Domestic Team of the Decade
FIFA 100
English Football Hall of Fame: 2014
Golden Foot: 2017, as football legend
References
External links
Profile at ManUtd.com
Michael Owen's column in The Times
Photographs and statistics at sporting-heroes.net – England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle
Premier League profile
1979 births
Living people
People from Flintshire
Sportspeople from Chester
English footballers
Association football forwards
Liverpool F.C. players
Real Madrid CF players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
La Liga players
UEFA Cup winning players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
FIFA 100
Ballon d'Or winners
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
England youth international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
English association football commentators
English autobiographers
FA Cup Final players
English racehorse owners and breeders
Mold Alexandra F.C. players | false | [
"The 1897–98 Football League season was Aston Villa's 10th season in the Football League First Division, the top flight of English football. George Ramsay would continue in charge of Aston Villa while the Management Committee continued to pick the team. The season fell in what was to be called Villa's golden era.\n\nFirst-class cricketer and England football international, Jack Devey was Captain. Jimmy Crabtree also captained the team. \"Diamond\" Freddie Wheldon was League top scorer with 21.\n\nBilly Garraty great-great grandfather of Jack Grealish, made his league debut for Aston Villa during the season but made just one other appearance that year.\n\nFirst Division\n\nReferences\n\nAston Villa F.C. seasons\nAston Villa F.C.",
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"What year was his debut season?",
"On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United."
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| C_162d17e57ffc483495bc8333e99f0842_1 | How was he able to get that deal? | 2 | How was Michael Owen able to get a two-year deal with Manchester United? | Michael Owen | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1-0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5-0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford as he netted in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4-3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after netting in the Merseyside derby, El Clasico and the Tyne-Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important. On 27 October, Owen notched a goal in the 2-0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3-1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season. CANNOTANSWER | He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue | Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.
Early life
Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.
Club career
Liverpool
At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.
In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.
1996–2000
Owen celebrated his seventeenth birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.
On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The Liverpool Echo stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."
Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The Liverpool Echo wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.
Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.
2000–2004
Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.
Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next Galáctico, stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."
Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.
Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."
Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.
After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.
Real Madrid
Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its Galácticos era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.
Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches.
On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 El Clásico win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.
Newcastle United
On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.
On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.
Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.
Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.
Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.
On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."
On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.
In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.
In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.
After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.
Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.
Under the transfer rules, with the 2008–09 season being the final year of his contract with Newcastle, Owen would have been allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs during January. On 22 December 2008, Owen rejected a new contract offer from Newcastle, but stated that he would not be seeking a move in the January transfer window and instead intended to postpone talks over his contract situation until the end of the season. With speculation over his future continuing in the second half of the season, Owen received "substantial damages" in June in the High Court in London and a public apology following a story on 15 May in the Daily Express alleging that due to a lack of interest from Premier League clubs, Owen's career was effectively finished and he intended to retire.
After a disastrous season in general for the club, which culminated in Owen's former Newcastle and England teammate Alan Shearer being brought in as a temporary manager for the final eight games of the season, on the final day of the season on 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. On 14 June, it was reported that Owen's management company Wasserman Media Group had sent out a 34-page brochure advertising Owen to several potential clubs. On 22 June, Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or another top-flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
In September 2019, Owen stated that he regretted his move to Newcastle. "I didn't want to go there – my heart was set on a return to Liverpool."
Manchester United
Debut season
On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Manchester United, arch rivals of Liverpool. A surprise move, Owen said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson was "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1–0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5–0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford, in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4–3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after scoring in the Merseyside derby, El Clásico and the Tyne–Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important.
On 27 October, Owen scored a goal in the 2–0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3–3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3–1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2–1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
2010–11
Owen scored his first goal for United back from injury in a 7–1 pre-season victory against a League of Ireland XI on 4 August 2010 at the newly built Aviva Stadium. On 22 September 2010, Owen scored twice during a 5–2 away win over Scunthorpe United in the third round of the League Cup, his first goals of the season. Four days later, Owen scored his first league goal of the season, United's second equaliser with his first touch in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers. Owen's first goal of 2011 came in United's 2–1 FA Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on 29 January. On 25 February, United manager Alex Ferguson said that Owen was a key part of his squad for the rest of the season. However, he suffered a groin injury and missed his team's next four games. His return match was on 19 March when he returned to the bench for United's game against Bolton.
By the time of United's penultimate game of the season, he had reached the number of league appearances required for a title winner's medal – his first in 15 seasons as a professional. The game, on 14 May 2011, only required United to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to win the title, and a 1–1 draw secured it for them. Owen was an unused substitute in the game. Owen scored United's final goal in their last league game of the season, at home to Blackpool, in which the Red Devils won 4–2.
Owen was an unused substitute in Man United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, marking the end of his season. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 1 June 2011.
2011–12
Owen started his first game of the season in the third round of the League Cup against Leeds United. He scored two goals in the first half, helping United to progress to the fourth round with a 3–0 win. His first goal came after he advanced to the box and scuffed a shot into the corner of the net. The second goal came on the half-hour mark, when he met Mame Biram Diouf's cross with instant control, before firing a right foot shot into the top. Owen started his second game of the season in the fourth round of the League Cup, against League Two club Aldershot Town. He scored the second goal of the 3–0 win. Dimitar Berbatov completed a run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into the box, with Owen scoring past Ross Worner.
Owen started in United's home Champions League group stage match against Oțelul Galați on 2 November, however he was substituted early in the first half when he pulled up with a thigh injury; this was his last appearance for the team. In February 2012, Owen started light training with the Manchester United squad. From April 2012, Owen started full training but was not yet ready for first team games. On 13 May 2012, Owen was named as a substitute against Sunderland in United's final fixture, but he was not brought on.
On 17 May 2012, Owen announced on Twitter that Manchester United would not be offering him a new deal, ending his three-year association with the club.
Stoke City
On 4 September 2012, Owen joined Stoke City on a one-year contract. He was handed the number 10 shirt from the departed Ricardo Fuller and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City on 15 September. The start to his time at Stoke was hampered by a hamstring injury. Owen scored his first and only goal for Stoke on 19 January 2013 in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal since 25 October 2011. In doing so, he became only the seventh player to reach 150 Premier League goals.
On 19 March 2013, Owen announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season. He was restricted to just eight Premier League appearances for Stoke, all coming from the substitutes bench, including in his final appearance on 19 May 2013 against Southampton, where he received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.
International career
Owen was capped 89 times for England and scored 40 goals. He is sixth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Wayne Rooney (53), Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Lineker (48), Harry Kane (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He is also England's second-highest goalscorer in competitive international matches, behind Rooney. His 89 caps also place him as England's eleventh most capped player.
Owen played for England at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. He scored goals in all but one of these tournaments, making him the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.
Emergence
Owen had a highly successful record at Youth level, playing for the England under-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and scoring three goals in four games. He played once for the England under-21 team, scoring in a win over Greece at Carrow Road.
He made his debut for the England senior team in a 2–0 friendly loss to Chile on 11 February 1998. This made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age.
Owen's youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the country, and many fans were keen for him to be selected for the 1998 World Cup in France. In a pre-World Cup friendly against Morocco, Owen scored his first goal for England. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
1998 World Cup
Owen was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute in the opening match against Tunisia. In the following match, a 2–1 defeat to Romania, Owen again appeared as a substitute. His equalising goal made him England's youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days. In stoppage time, he hit the post with a long range shot, almost salvaging a point from the game. Because of his impact against Romania, Hoddle selected Owen in the starting line-up for England's decisive group match against Colombia. England won the match and Owen retained his place for the second round match against Argentina.
After Argentina had taken a sixth-minute lead, Owen was fouled in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala and Alan Shearer equalised with the penalty kick. In the 16th minute, Owen gave England a 2–1 lead with a sensational individual goal. After beating defenders Ayala and José Chamot, he struck the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Roa from just outside the penalty box. In 2013, the goal was voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually drew the match and went out of the tournament on penalties, with Owen successfully converting his kick. At the end of the year, he won a public vote to be elected winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title.
Euro 2000
Owen started the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying phase as a regular in the England starting line-up. However, injury problems meant he missed much of the campaign as England struggled, with Hoddle being replaced by Kevin Keegan. On 4 September 1999, he scored his first goal at Wembley Stadium in a 6–0 win over Luxembourg.
At the finals, Owen scored once in three matches, as England were knocked out at the group stage.
2002 World Cup
After Alan Shearer's retirement, Owen took over as England's senior striker under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He scored six times during 2002 World Cup qualifying, including a hat-trick against Germany at Munich's Olympiastadion, as England won the qualifying group. His performances saw him named European Footballer of the Year for 2001.
In April 2002, he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore in 1963, and in the following few seasons regularly deputised for Beckham as Eriksson's vice-captain.
At the 2002 World Cup finals, Owen failed to score during the group stage. However, he was fouled for England's match winning penalty kick in the 1–0 win over Argentina. Owen scored in England's second round match against Denmark and then gave England an early lead in the 2–1 quarter-final defeat against Brazil.
Euro 2004
Owen scored five times in qualification for Euro 2004.
At the tournament proper, Owen again failed to score during the group stage. He then scored in the third minute of the quarter-final with Portugal, becoming the first England player to score in four consecutive major tournaments. England went on to lose on penalties after a 2–2 draw.
2006 World Cup
In qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Owen scored five goals.
In May 2005, he scored his second international hat-trick in a friendly match against Colombia at Giants Stadium. In another pre-World Cup friendly, Owen scored two late goals to give England a 3–2 win over rivals Argentina in November 2005.
Owen made his debut for the England B-team in a friendly against Belarus on 25 May 2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 World Cup. He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being substituted.
Owen started England's first two games of the 2006 World Cup, against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, but did not manage to score. After playing only 51 seconds of his third appearance of the tournament, and 80th cap, in the final group game against Sweden, Owen badly twisted his right knee and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. A scan of the injury on 21 June confirmed that Owen had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the tournament. In March 2009, Owen admitted that all injuries he was sustaining were relating back to his injury in the 2006 World Cup tournament, and that he should not have returned prematurely from injury to participate in the competition.
Final appearances
Owen underwent successful reconstruction surgery, carried out by Richard Steadman, on 6 September 2006. The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed England's first six matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the England B game against Albania, and was named in the full squad for the first England match at the new Wembley Stadium against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia, with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal." He played in both matches and scored against Estonia, breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals in competitive internationals for England.
On 12 September 2007, Owen scored twice for England in a 3–0 win over Russia, becoming the first player to score international goals at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums. These were to be Owen's final goals for England.
After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, manager Steve McClaren was replaced by Fabio Capello. Owen made only one appearance under Capello, as a substitute in a friendly against France in March 2008.
Style of play
In his prime, Owen was highly regarded for his great pace, opportunism and agility, as well as his technical ability and his eye for goal, which enabled him to be considered one of the greatest English and Premier League strikers of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, Owen was a powerful and accurate finisher, who was also effective with his head, despite his lack of height. He was also capable of linking up with and creating chances for teammates due to his short passing ability and vision. Despite, or even due to, his precocious talent in his youth, Owen faced many injuries throughout his career, which in later years affected his pace, fitness, mobility and the overall consistency of his performances.
Personal life
Owen met Louise Bonsall at primary school in 1984. The couple bought Lower Soughton Manor in Flintshire, North Wales, where they keep his cars and her horses. They were engaged on 14 February 2004, and married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in Chester, Cheshire. The couple had initially planned to get married at their home, but changed plans when they were informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be made available for other weddings for three years, so opted to marry in a register office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in the grounds of their home.
Their daughter, Gemma Rose, was born on 1 May 2003. On 6 February 2006, they had a son named James Michael. Their third child, a daughter, Emily May, was born on 29 October 2007. Their fourth child Jessica was born on 26 February 2010.
After Owen returned to the UK to play for Newcastle, he travelled to a nearby BAE Systems facility on a daily basis in order to fly, by helicopter, to train with his club. However, there is now a helipad installed within the grounds of the house to accommodate Owen's Eurocopter Dauphin, with which he both travels and is training to become a pilot. Owen was eventually banned from training to be a pilot by Newcastle United due to excessive insurance premiums.
Owen also bought an entire street for his extended family in Ewloe, which is in an area close to where he used to live.
In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she was pregnant, they fled.
Owen owns several cars and a helicopter and enjoys horse racing and gambling. He owns many race horses, trained by Tom Dascombe. He bred the horse Brown Panther which won a major race at Royal Ascot in 2011, and the 2015 Dubai Gold Cup. Owen was a brand ambassador for British bookmaker Colossus Bets.
On 24 November 2017, Owen rode on Calder Prince at Ascot and finished second, beaten by Tom Chatfield-Roberts on Golden Wedding. He was one of 10 amateur riders to take part in the seven-furlong 'Prince's Countryside Fund Charity' contest, which was attended by HRH Prince Charles and HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
Owen starred in a series of adverts that charted his life and rise to fame. In 2001, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal "Nestlé Sporties". He also appeared in several adverts for the washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1 million. Owen was selected as one of the two cover athletes for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. He has been an ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998 and has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar.
Owen also starred as himself in the children's television drama show Hero to Zero. In the programme, Owen would emerge from a full size poster of himself in Charlie Brice's room to offer advice in times of crisis.
Owen had indicated that he would like to become involved with Chester in some capacity when he retires, as it was his local team growing up and his father played for the old Chester side which went out of business in March 2010 and was reformed at a lower level.
In January 2018, Owen participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief, winning the episode.
In January 2022, Owen appeared on the third series of The Masked Singer as "Doughnuts". He was seventh to be unmasked.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Owen goal.
Honours
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2000–01
Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Charity Shield: 2001
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
Manchester United
Premier League: 2010–11
Football League Cup: 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 2010
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 2001
World Soccer World Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2000–01
Onze d'Argent: 2001
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998
Premier League Golden Boot: 1997–98, 1998–99
Premier League Player of the Season: 1997–98
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1997–98
PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Month: August 1998
FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: France 1998
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998 (Reserve)
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: Domestic Team of the Decade
FIFA 100
English Football Hall of Fame: 2014
Golden Foot: 2017, as football legend
References
External links
Profile at ManUtd.com
Michael Owen's column in The Times
Photographs and statistics at sporting-heroes.net – England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle
Premier League profile
1979 births
Living people
People from Flintshire
Sportspeople from Chester
English footballers
Association football forwards
Liverpool F.C. players
Real Madrid CF players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
La Liga players
UEFA Cup winning players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
FIFA 100
Ballon d'Or winners
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
England youth international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
English association football commentators
English autobiographers
FA Cup Final players
English racehorse owners and breeders
Mold Alexandra F.C. players | false | [
"Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tucker, billed as \"Star Spangled Glory\", was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC champion Lennox Lewis and the WBC's number one ranked contender Tony Tucker. The bout took place on May 8, 1993 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Lewis retained his WBC title via unanimous decision.\n\nBackground\nAfter defeating the WBC's number one ranked heavyweight Donovan \"Razor\" Ruddock on October 31, 1992, Lennox Lewis became the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title, which at the time was unified with both the WBA and IBF versions of the heavyweight title. Two weeks after his victory over Ruddock, challenger Riddick Bowe defeated champion Evander Holyfield to claim all three titles and become the new undisputed heavyweight champion. Bowe and Lewis' camps attempted to get a deal done but negotiations broke down after Lewis' manager Frank Maloney rejected both deals that Bowe's manager Rock Newman offered. The first deal offered was a 90–10 split between the two fighters that would net Lewis $3 million while Bowe would take home $29 million, but Maloney refused the deal, calling it \"absurd\". Newman then offered Lewis $2.5 million to take an interim fight against an opponent of his choosing after which he would proceed with his championship fight with Bowe where he would earn an additional $9 million but that deal was also refused. Because a deal could not be made, Bowe instead chose to vacate his WBC title and proceeded to make the first defense of his remaining titles against Michael Dokes. Based on the strength of his victory over Ruddock, the WBC decided to name Lewis the new WBC heavyweight champion. Though George Foreman had been brought up by Lewis as a possible opponent, he ultimately agreed to face the WBC's number one contender Tony Tucker in his first defense. Tucker briefly held the IBF heavyweight title in 1987 but lost it in his first defense against Mike Tyson only three months later. After his loss to Tyson, Tucker was out of boxing for over two years before launching a comeback late in 1989. Tucker was then able to put together a string of 14 consecutive wins to get his record up 48–1 by the time of his fight with Lewis. Despite his impressive record, Tucker was given little chance of defeating Lewis and came into the fight as a 6–1 underdog.\n\nThe fight\nLike his previous championship fight with Tyson, Tucker was able to go the full twelve rounds with the much younger Lewis but was unable to put together much offense during the bout. Lewis was able to twice knockdown Tucker, who had previously never been knocked down in 50 fights as a professional. The first came during the final minute of the third round. Tucker attempted to hit Lewis with a jab with about 40 seconds left, but Lewis was able to dodge it and quickly landed a strong right hook that dropped Tucker to the canvas for the first time in his career. In round eight, Tucker seemingly had Lewis in trouble after landing an over 20-punch combination late in the round. However, Lewis would turn the tables on Tucker and dominate the final 25 seconds of the round, landing several power punches that clearly hurt Tucker, who tried in vain to clinch Lewis and survive the remainder of the round. After failing to hold on to Lewis, Tucker backed into the corner with 10 seconds left and was promptly met with a three-punch combination from Lewis, though he was able to get a hold of Lewis and survive the round without being knocked down. As round nine began, Lewis charged at Tucker and was quickly able to gain a second knockdown after landing a right hook to the side of Tucker's head. Nevertheless, Tucker was able to survive the remainder of the fight, but Lewis was able to pick up a lopsided unanimous decision with scores of 118–111, 117–111 and 116–112.\n\nUndercard\nConfirmed bouts:\n\nBroadcasting\n\nReferences\n\nTucker\nWorld Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches\n1993 in boxing\nBoxing in Las Vegas\n1993 in sports in Nevada\nMay 1993 sports events in the United States\nThomas & Mack Center",
"The Men's super combined competition at the 2015 World Championships was held on Sunday, February 8. \n\nMarcel Hirscher won the gold medal, despite originally finishing in 31st position after the downhill leg. Ondřej Bank however, fell on the final jump and, although the original results had Bank in 25th place, the jury disqualified him after the run ended and as a result, Hirscher was able to start first in the slalom leg instead of starting after the top 30. With a clean track he was able to rise all the way from 30th to 1st. Kjetil Jansrud took silver for Norway after leading the downhill leg. Bronze medalist Ted Ligety commenting on the race conditions and result, said, \"It was dumb luck. If I was a half-second faster in the downhill, I wouldn’t have been able to get a medal at all. That’s how big of a difference I thought running early was.\"\n\nResults\nThe downhill run was started at 10:00 MST and the slalom run at 14:15.\n\nReferences\n\nMen's super combined"
]
|
[
"Michael Owen",
"Debut season",
"What year was his debut season?",
"On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United.",
"How was he able to get that deal?",
"He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from \"out of the blue"
]
| C_162d17e57ffc483495bc8333e99f0842_1 | Was he happy about it? | 3 | Was Michael Owen happy about getting a two-year deal with Manchester United? | Michael Owen | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1-0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5-0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford as he netted in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4-3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after netting in the Merseyside derby, El Clasico and the Tyne-Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important. On 27 October, Owen notched a goal in the 2-0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3-1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.
Early life
Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.
Club career
Liverpool
At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.
In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.
1996–2000
Owen celebrated his seventeenth birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.
On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The Liverpool Echo stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."
Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The Liverpool Echo wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.
Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.
2000–2004
Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.
Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next Galáctico, stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."
Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.
Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."
Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.
After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.
Real Madrid
Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its Galácticos era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.
Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches.
On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 El Clásico win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.
Newcastle United
On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.
On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.
Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.
Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.
Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.
On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."
On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.
In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.
In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.
After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.
Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.
Under the transfer rules, with the 2008–09 season being the final year of his contract with Newcastle, Owen would have been allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs during January. On 22 December 2008, Owen rejected a new contract offer from Newcastle, but stated that he would not be seeking a move in the January transfer window and instead intended to postpone talks over his contract situation until the end of the season. With speculation over his future continuing in the second half of the season, Owen received "substantial damages" in June in the High Court in London and a public apology following a story on 15 May in the Daily Express alleging that due to a lack of interest from Premier League clubs, Owen's career was effectively finished and he intended to retire.
After a disastrous season in general for the club, which culminated in Owen's former Newcastle and England teammate Alan Shearer being brought in as a temporary manager for the final eight games of the season, on the final day of the season on 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. On 14 June, it was reported that Owen's management company Wasserman Media Group had sent out a 34-page brochure advertising Owen to several potential clubs. On 22 June, Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or another top-flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
In September 2019, Owen stated that he regretted his move to Newcastle. "I didn't want to go there – my heart was set on a return to Liverpool."
Manchester United
Debut season
On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Manchester United, arch rivals of Liverpool. A surprise move, Owen said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson was "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1–0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5–0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford, in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4–3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after scoring in the Merseyside derby, El Clásico and the Tyne–Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important.
On 27 October, Owen scored a goal in the 2–0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3–3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3–1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2–1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
2010–11
Owen scored his first goal for United back from injury in a 7–1 pre-season victory against a League of Ireland XI on 4 August 2010 at the newly built Aviva Stadium. On 22 September 2010, Owen scored twice during a 5–2 away win over Scunthorpe United in the third round of the League Cup, his first goals of the season. Four days later, Owen scored his first league goal of the season, United's second equaliser with his first touch in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers. Owen's first goal of 2011 came in United's 2–1 FA Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on 29 January. On 25 February, United manager Alex Ferguson said that Owen was a key part of his squad for the rest of the season. However, he suffered a groin injury and missed his team's next four games. His return match was on 19 March when he returned to the bench for United's game against Bolton.
By the time of United's penultimate game of the season, he had reached the number of league appearances required for a title winner's medal – his first in 15 seasons as a professional. The game, on 14 May 2011, only required United to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to win the title, and a 1–1 draw secured it for them. Owen was an unused substitute in the game. Owen scored United's final goal in their last league game of the season, at home to Blackpool, in which the Red Devils won 4–2.
Owen was an unused substitute in Man United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, marking the end of his season. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 1 June 2011.
2011–12
Owen started his first game of the season in the third round of the League Cup against Leeds United. He scored two goals in the first half, helping United to progress to the fourth round with a 3–0 win. His first goal came after he advanced to the box and scuffed a shot into the corner of the net. The second goal came on the half-hour mark, when he met Mame Biram Diouf's cross with instant control, before firing a right foot shot into the top. Owen started his second game of the season in the fourth round of the League Cup, against League Two club Aldershot Town. He scored the second goal of the 3–0 win. Dimitar Berbatov completed a run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into the box, with Owen scoring past Ross Worner.
Owen started in United's home Champions League group stage match against Oțelul Galați on 2 November, however he was substituted early in the first half when he pulled up with a thigh injury; this was his last appearance for the team. In February 2012, Owen started light training with the Manchester United squad. From April 2012, Owen started full training but was not yet ready for first team games. On 13 May 2012, Owen was named as a substitute against Sunderland in United's final fixture, but he was not brought on.
On 17 May 2012, Owen announced on Twitter that Manchester United would not be offering him a new deal, ending his three-year association with the club.
Stoke City
On 4 September 2012, Owen joined Stoke City on a one-year contract. He was handed the number 10 shirt from the departed Ricardo Fuller and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City on 15 September. The start to his time at Stoke was hampered by a hamstring injury. Owen scored his first and only goal for Stoke on 19 January 2013 in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal since 25 October 2011. In doing so, he became only the seventh player to reach 150 Premier League goals.
On 19 March 2013, Owen announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season. He was restricted to just eight Premier League appearances for Stoke, all coming from the substitutes bench, including in his final appearance on 19 May 2013 against Southampton, where he received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.
International career
Owen was capped 89 times for England and scored 40 goals. He is sixth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Wayne Rooney (53), Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Lineker (48), Harry Kane (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He is also England's second-highest goalscorer in competitive international matches, behind Rooney. His 89 caps also place him as England's eleventh most capped player.
Owen played for England at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. He scored goals in all but one of these tournaments, making him the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.
Emergence
Owen had a highly successful record at Youth level, playing for the England under-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and scoring three goals in four games. He played once for the England under-21 team, scoring in a win over Greece at Carrow Road.
He made his debut for the England senior team in a 2–0 friendly loss to Chile on 11 February 1998. This made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age.
Owen's youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the country, and many fans were keen for him to be selected for the 1998 World Cup in France. In a pre-World Cup friendly against Morocco, Owen scored his first goal for England. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
1998 World Cup
Owen was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute in the opening match against Tunisia. In the following match, a 2–1 defeat to Romania, Owen again appeared as a substitute. His equalising goal made him England's youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days. In stoppage time, he hit the post with a long range shot, almost salvaging a point from the game. Because of his impact against Romania, Hoddle selected Owen in the starting line-up for England's decisive group match against Colombia. England won the match and Owen retained his place for the second round match against Argentina.
After Argentina had taken a sixth-minute lead, Owen was fouled in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala and Alan Shearer equalised with the penalty kick. In the 16th minute, Owen gave England a 2–1 lead with a sensational individual goal. After beating defenders Ayala and José Chamot, he struck the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Roa from just outside the penalty box. In 2013, the goal was voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually drew the match and went out of the tournament on penalties, with Owen successfully converting his kick. At the end of the year, he won a public vote to be elected winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title.
Euro 2000
Owen started the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying phase as a regular in the England starting line-up. However, injury problems meant he missed much of the campaign as England struggled, with Hoddle being replaced by Kevin Keegan. On 4 September 1999, he scored his first goal at Wembley Stadium in a 6–0 win over Luxembourg.
At the finals, Owen scored once in three matches, as England were knocked out at the group stage.
2002 World Cup
After Alan Shearer's retirement, Owen took over as England's senior striker under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He scored six times during 2002 World Cup qualifying, including a hat-trick against Germany at Munich's Olympiastadion, as England won the qualifying group. His performances saw him named European Footballer of the Year for 2001.
In April 2002, he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore in 1963, and in the following few seasons regularly deputised for Beckham as Eriksson's vice-captain.
At the 2002 World Cup finals, Owen failed to score during the group stage. However, he was fouled for England's match winning penalty kick in the 1–0 win over Argentina. Owen scored in England's second round match against Denmark and then gave England an early lead in the 2–1 quarter-final defeat against Brazil.
Euro 2004
Owen scored five times in qualification for Euro 2004.
At the tournament proper, Owen again failed to score during the group stage. He then scored in the third minute of the quarter-final with Portugal, becoming the first England player to score in four consecutive major tournaments. England went on to lose on penalties after a 2–2 draw.
2006 World Cup
In qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Owen scored five goals.
In May 2005, he scored his second international hat-trick in a friendly match against Colombia at Giants Stadium. In another pre-World Cup friendly, Owen scored two late goals to give England a 3–2 win over rivals Argentina in November 2005.
Owen made his debut for the England B-team in a friendly against Belarus on 25 May 2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 World Cup. He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being substituted.
Owen started England's first two games of the 2006 World Cup, against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, but did not manage to score. After playing only 51 seconds of his third appearance of the tournament, and 80th cap, in the final group game against Sweden, Owen badly twisted his right knee and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. A scan of the injury on 21 June confirmed that Owen had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the tournament. In March 2009, Owen admitted that all injuries he was sustaining were relating back to his injury in the 2006 World Cup tournament, and that he should not have returned prematurely from injury to participate in the competition.
Final appearances
Owen underwent successful reconstruction surgery, carried out by Richard Steadman, on 6 September 2006. The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed England's first six matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the England B game against Albania, and was named in the full squad for the first England match at the new Wembley Stadium against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia, with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal." He played in both matches and scored against Estonia, breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals in competitive internationals for England.
On 12 September 2007, Owen scored twice for England in a 3–0 win over Russia, becoming the first player to score international goals at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums. These were to be Owen's final goals for England.
After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, manager Steve McClaren was replaced by Fabio Capello. Owen made only one appearance under Capello, as a substitute in a friendly against France in March 2008.
Style of play
In his prime, Owen was highly regarded for his great pace, opportunism and agility, as well as his technical ability and his eye for goal, which enabled him to be considered one of the greatest English and Premier League strikers of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, Owen was a powerful and accurate finisher, who was also effective with his head, despite his lack of height. He was also capable of linking up with and creating chances for teammates due to his short passing ability and vision. Despite, or even due to, his precocious talent in his youth, Owen faced many injuries throughout his career, which in later years affected his pace, fitness, mobility and the overall consistency of his performances.
Personal life
Owen met Louise Bonsall at primary school in 1984. The couple bought Lower Soughton Manor in Flintshire, North Wales, where they keep his cars and her horses. They were engaged on 14 February 2004, and married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in Chester, Cheshire. The couple had initially planned to get married at their home, but changed plans when they were informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be made available for other weddings for three years, so opted to marry in a register office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in the grounds of their home.
Their daughter, Gemma Rose, was born on 1 May 2003. On 6 February 2006, they had a son named James Michael. Their third child, a daughter, Emily May, was born on 29 October 2007. Their fourth child Jessica was born on 26 February 2010.
After Owen returned to the UK to play for Newcastle, he travelled to a nearby BAE Systems facility on a daily basis in order to fly, by helicopter, to train with his club. However, there is now a helipad installed within the grounds of the house to accommodate Owen's Eurocopter Dauphin, with which he both travels and is training to become a pilot. Owen was eventually banned from training to be a pilot by Newcastle United due to excessive insurance premiums.
Owen also bought an entire street for his extended family in Ewloe, which is in an area close to where he used to live.
In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she was pregnant, they fled.
Owen owns several cars and a helicopter and enjoys horse racing and gambling. He owns many race horses, trained by Tom Dascombe. He bred the horse Brown Panther which won a major race at Royal Ascot in 2011, and the 2015 Dubai Gold Cup. Owen was a brand ambassador for British bookmaker Colossus Bets.
On 24 November 2017, Owen rode on Calder Prince at Ascot and finished second, beaten by Tom Chatfield-Roberts on Golden Wedding. He was one of 10 amateur riders to take part in the seven-furlong 'Prince's Countryside Fund Charity' contest, which was attended by HRH Prince Charles and HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
Owen starred in a series of adverts that charted his life and rise to fame. In 2001, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal "Nestlé Sporties". He also appeared in several adverts for the washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1 million. Owen was selected as one of the two cover athletes for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. He has been an ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998 and has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar.
Owen also starred as himself in the children's television drama show Hero to Zero. In the programme, Owen would emerge from a full size poster of himself in Charlie Brice's room to offer advice in times of crisis.
Owen had indicated that he would like to become involved with Chester in some capacity when he retires, as it was his local team growing up and his father played for the old Chester side which went out of business in March 2010 and was reformed at a lower level.
In January 2018, Owen participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief, winning the episode.
In January 2022, Owen appeared on the third series of The Masked Singer as "Doughnuts". He was seventh to be unmasked.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Owen goal.
Honours
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2000–01
Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Charity Shield: 2001
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
Manchester United
Premier League: 2010–11
Football League Cup: 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 2010
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 2001
World Soccer World Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2000–01
Onze d'Argent: 2001
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998
Premier League Golden Boot: 1997–98, 1998–99
Premier League Player of the Season: 1997–98
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1997–98
PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Month: August 1998
FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: France 1998
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998 (Reserve)
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: Domestic Team of the Decade
FIFA 100
English Football Hall of Fame: 2014
Golden Foot: 2017, as football legend
References
External links
Profile at ManUtd.com
Michael Owen's column in The Times
Photographs and statistics at sporting-heroes.net – England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle
Premier League profile
1979 births
Living people
People from Flintshire
Sportspeople from Chester
English footballers
Association football forwards
Liverpool F.C. players
Real Madrid CF players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
La Liga players
UEFA Cup winning players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
FIFA 100
Ballon d'Or winners
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
England youth international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
English association football commentators
English autobiographers
FA Cup Final players
English racehorse owners and breeders
Mold Alexandra F.C. players | false | [
"Happy Days, 1880–1892 (1940) is the first of an autobiographical trilogy by H.L. Mencken, covering his days as a child in Baltimore, Maryland from birth through age twelve. It was followed by Newspaper Days, 1899–1906 (1941) and Heathen Days, 1890–1936 (1943).\n\nThe book was received with some surprise by Mencken's readers, since, unlike his commentaries on current events, it is written with great warmth and affection. Mencken's childhood was apparently happy and secure, and he enjoyed both living through it and reminiscing about it in later years.\n\nEditions\n Happy Days: Mencken's Autobiography: 1880-1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press: Bumcombe Collection, 2006)\n\nExternal links\n\n1940 non-fiction books\nBooks by H. L. Mencken\nLiterary autobiographies",
"Happy is a town in Randall and Swisher Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 678 at the 2010 census. The Randall County portion of Happy is part of the Amarillo, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area.\n\nToponymy\nHappy derives its name from Happy Draw, a stream named in the 19th century by the team of cowboys who were happy to find water there. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. The town's motto is \"The Town Without A Frown\".\n\nGeography\nHappy is located at , primarily within Swisher County.\n\nAccording to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km), all of it land.\n\nDemographics\n\nAs of the census of 2010, 678 people, 267 households, and 182 families resided in the town. The population density was 607.5 people per square mile (233.5/km). The 295 housing units averaged 277.0 per square mile (106.4/km). The racial makeup of the town was 88.05% White, 0.29% African American, 1.77% Native American, 8.11% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 17.31% of the population.\n\nOf the 267 households, 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.2% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were not families; 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42, and the average family size was 2.97.\n\nIn the town, the population was distributed as 25.8% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males.\n\nThe median income for a household in the town was $28,393, and for a family was $39,375. Males had a median income of $26,964 versus $17,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,618. About 10.9% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.1% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.\n\nThe population is decreasing by 10% annually because of water shortage.\n\nEducation\nThe City of Happy is served by the Happy Independent School District and home to the Happy High School Cowboys.\n\nNotable citizens \nHappy is the birthplace of Rockabilly musician Buddy Knox. Fictional 24 character George Avila was from Happy, Texas.\n\nBarry Clark, one of the pioneers of the Very Large Array, was born in Happy.\n\nThe Uncle Sam Band\nHappy is the home of the Uncle Sam Band which was organized in the 1930s and directed by Happy High School Band Director James Douglass Forbus. The Uncle Sam Band led a parade in Amarillo, Texas, during a visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.\n\nFamous sportsman\nHappy is the home town of Joe Cephis Fortenberry, who was the captain, high scorer and MVP of the first U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team. They won the first gold medal ever awarded in the sport. He also won two AAU national championships, one with the Globe Refiners of McPherson, Kansas, and one with the Phillips 66ers. He was AAAU All America four times. He is credited with inventing the dunk shot, ending the jump ball after made goals, and causing the goaltending rule to be instituted.\n\nClimate\nAccording to the Köppen climate classification system, Happy has a semiarid climate, BSk on climate maps.\n\nEnvironment\nThe former Attebury Grain Storage Facility within the town was added to the Superfund National Priorities List by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in April, 2009 because hazardous chemicals were found in the soil and groundwater. Carbon tetrachloride, which was used to extinguish a fire at the storage facility in 1962, was found in a municipal water well, and several private wells.\n\nIn popular culture\nThe film Happy, Texas, which was named for the town and set there, was not filmed there.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \"HAPPY, TX\", Handbook of Texas Online\n\nTowns in Randall County, Texas\nTowns in Swisher County, Texas\nTowns in Texas\nTowns in Amarillo metropolitan area"
]
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[
"Michael Owen",
"Debut season",
"What year was his debut season?",
"On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United.",
"How was he able to get that deal?",
"He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from \"out of the blue",
"Was he happy about it?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_162d17e57ffc483495bc8333e99f0842_1 | Can you tell me more details of the deal? | 4 | Can you tell me more details of the two-year deal Michael Owen made with Manchester United? | Michael Owen | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1-0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5-0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford as he netted in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4-3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after netting in the Merseyside derby, El Clasico and the Tyne-Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important. On 27 October, Owen notched a goal in the 2-0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3-1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.
Early life
Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.
Club career
Liverpool
At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.
In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.
1996–2000
Owen celebrated his seventeenth birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.
On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The Liverpool Echo stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."
Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The Liverpool Echo wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.
Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.
2000–2004
Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.
Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next Galáctico, stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."
Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.
Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."
Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.
After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.
Real Madrid
Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its Galácticos era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.
Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches.
On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 El Clásico win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.
Newcastle United
On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.
On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.
Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.
Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.
Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.
On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."
On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.
In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.
In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.
After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.
Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.
Under the transfer rules, with the 2008–09 season being the final year of his contract with Newcastle, Owen would have been allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs during January. On 22 December 2008, Owen rejected a new contract offer from Newcastle, but stated that he would not be seeking a move in the January transfer window and instead intended to postpone talks over his contract situation until the end of the season. With speculation over his future continuing in the second half of the season, Owen received "substantial damages" in June in the High Court in London and a public apology following a story on 15 May in the Daily Express alleging that due to a lack of interest from Premier League clubs, Owen's career was effectively finished and he intended to retire.
After a disastrous season in general for the club, which culminated in Owen's former Newcastle and England teammate Alan Shearer being brought in as a temporary manager for the final eight games of the season, on the final day of the season on 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. On 14 June, it was reported that Owen's management company Wasserman Media Group had sent out a 34-page brochure advertising Owen to several potential clubs. On 22 June, Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or another top-flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
In September 2019, Owen stated that he regretted his move to Newcastle. "I didn't want to go there – my heart was set on a return to Liverpool."
Manchester United
Debut season
On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Manchester United, arch rivals of Liverpool. A surprise move, Owen said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson was "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1–0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5–0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford, in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4–3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after scoring in the Merseyside derby, El Clásico and the Tyne–Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important.
On 27 October, Owen scored a goal in the 2–0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3–3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3–1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2–1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
2010–11
Owen scored his first goal for United back from injury in a 7–1 pre-season victory against a League of Ireland XI on 4 August 2010 at the newly built Aviva Stadium. On 22 September 2010, Owen scored twice during a 5–2 away win over Scunthorpe United in the third round of the League Cup, his first goals of the season. Four days later, Owen scored his first league goal of the season, United's second equaliser with his first touch in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers. Owen's first goal of 2011 came in United's 2–1 FA Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on 29 January. On 25 February, United manager Alex Ferguson said that Owen was a key part of his squad for the rest of the season. However, he suffered a groin injury and missed his team's next four games. His return match was on 19 March when he returned to the bench for United's game against Bolton.
By the time of United's penultimate game of the season, he had reached the number of league appearances required for a title winner's medal – his first in 15 seasons as a professional. The game, on 14 May 2011, only required United to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to win the title, and a 1–1 draw secured it for them. Owen was an unused substitute in the game. Owen scored United's final goal in their last league game of the season, at home to Blackpool, in which the Red Devils won 4–2.
Owen was an unused substitute in Man United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, marking the end of his season. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 1 June 2011.
2011–12
Owen started his first game of the season in the third round of the League Cup against Leeds United. He scored two goals in the first half, helping United to progress to the fourth round with a 3–0 win. His first goal came after he advanced to the box and scuffed a shot into the corner of the net. The second goal came on the half-hour mark, when he met Mame Biram Diouf's cross with instant control, before firing a right foot shot into the top. Owen started his second game of the season in the fourth round of the League Cup, against League Two club Aldershot Town. He scored the second goal of the 3–0 win. Dimitar Berbatov completed a run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into the box, with Owen scoring past Ross Worner.
Owen started in United's home Champions League group stage match against Oțelul Galați on 2 November, however he was substituted early in the first half when he pulled up with a thigh injury; this was his last appearance for the team. In February 2012, Owen started light training with the Manchester United squad. From April 2012, Owen started full training but was not yet ready for first team games. On 13 May 2012, Owen was named as a substitute against Sunderland in United's final fixture, but he was not brought on.
On 17 May 2012, Owen announced on Twitter that Manchester United would not be offering him a new deal, ending his three-year association with the club.
Stoke City
On 4 September 2012, Owen joined Stoke City on a one-year contract. He was handed the number 10 shirt from the departed Ricardo Fuller and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City on 15 September. The start to his time at Stoke was hampered by a hamstring injury. Owen scored his first and only goal for Stoke on 19 January 2013 in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal since 25 October 2011. In doing so, he became only the seventh player to reach 150 Premier League goals.
On 19 March 2013, Owen announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season. He was restricted to just eight Premier League appearances for Stoke, all coming from the substitutes bench, including in his final appearance on 19 May 2013 against Southampton, where he received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.
International career
Owen was capped 89 times for England and scored 40 goals. He is sixth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Wayne Rooney (53), Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Lineker (48), Harry Kane (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He is also England's second-highest goalscorer in competitive international matches, behind Rooney. His 89 caps also place him as England's eleventh most capped player.
Owen played for England at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. He scored goals in all but one of these tournaments, making him the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.
Emergence
Owen had a highly successful record at Youth level, playing for the England under-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and scoring three goals in four games. He played once for the England under-21 team, scoring in a win over Greece at Carrow Road.
He made his debut for the England senior team in a 2–0 friendly loss to Chile on 11 February 1998. This made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age.
Owen's youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the country, and many fans were keen for him to be selected for the 1998 World Cup in France. In a pre-World Cup friendly against Morocco, Owen scored his first goal for England. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
1998 World Cup
Owen was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute in the opening match against Tunisia. In the following match, a 2–1 defeat to Romania, Owen again appeared as a substitute. His equalising goal made him England's youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days. In stoppage time, he hit the post with a long range shot, almost salvaging a point from the game. Because of his impact against Romania, Hoddle selected Owen in the starting line-up for England's decisive group match against Colombia. England won the match and Owen retained his place for the second round match against Argentina.
After Argentina had taken a sixth-minute lead, Owen was fouled in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala and Alan Shearer equalised with the penalty kick. In the 16th minute, Owen gave England a 2–1 lead with a sensational individual goal. After beating defenders Ayala and José Chamot, he struck the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Roa from just outside the penalty box. In 2013, the goal was voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually drew the match and went out of the tournament on penalties, with Owen successfully converting his kick. At the end of the year, he won a public vote to be elected winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title.
Euro 2000
Owen started the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying phase as a regular in the England starting line-up. However, injury problems meant he missed much of the campaign as England struggled, with Hoddle being replaced by Kevin Keegan. On 4 September 1999, he scored his first goal at Wembley Stadium in a 6–0 win over Luxembourg.
At the finals, Owen scored once in three matches, as England were knocked out at the group stage.
2002 World Cup
After Alan Shearer's retirement, Owen took over as England's senior striker under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He scored six times during 2002 World Cup qualifying, including a hat-trick against Germany at Munich's Olympiastadion, as England won the qualifying group. His performances saw him named European Footballer of the Year for 2001.
In April 2002, he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore in 1963, and in the following few seasons regularly deputised for Beckham as Eriksson's vice-captain.
At the 2002 World Cup finals, Owen failed to score during the group stage. However, he was fouled for England's match winning penalty kick in the 1–0 win over Argentina. Owen scored in England's second round match against Denmark and then gave England an early lead in the 2–1 quarter-final defeat against Brazil.
Euro 2004
Owen scored five times in qualification for Euro 2004.
At the tournament proper, Owen again failed to score during the group stage. He then scored in the third minute of the quarter-final with Portugal, becoming the first England player to score in four consecutive major tournaments. England went on to lose on penalties after a 2–2 draw.
2006 World Cup
In qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Owen scored five goals.
In May 2005, he scored his second international hat-trick in a friendly match against Colombia at Giants Stadium. In another pre-World Cup friendly, Owen scored two late goals to give England a 3–2 win over rivals Argentina in November 2005.
Owen made his debut for the England B-team in a friendly against Belarus on 25 May 2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 World Cup. He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being substituted.
Owen started England's first two games of the 2006 World Cup, against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, but did not manage to score. After playing only 51 seconds of his third appearance of the tournament, and 80th cap, in the final group game against Sweden, Owen badly twisted his right knee and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. A scan of the injury on 21 June confirmed that Owen had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the tournament. In March 2009, Owen admitted that all injuries he was sustaining were relating back to his injury in the 2006 World Cup tournament, and that he should not have returned prematurely from injury to participate in the competition.
Final appearances
Owen underwent successful reconstruction surgery, carried out by Richard Steadman, on 6 September 2006. The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed England's first six matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the England B game against Albania, and was named in the full squad for the first England match at the new Wembley Stadium against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia, with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal." He played in both matches and scored against Estonia, breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals in competitive internationals for England.
On 12 September 2007, Owen scored twice for England in a 3–0 win over Russia, becoming the first player to score international goals at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums. These were to be Owen's final goals for England.
After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, manager Steve McClaren was replaced by Fabio Capello. Owen made only one appearance under Capello, as a substitute in a friendly against France in March 2008.
Style of play
In his prime, Owen was highly regarded for his great pace, opportunism and agility, as well as his technical ability and his eye for goal, which enabled him to be considered one of the greatest English and Premier League strikers of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, Owen was a powerful and accurate finisher, who was also effective with his head, despite his lack of height. He was also capable of linking up with and creating chances for teammates due to his short passing ability and vision. Despite, or even due to, his precocious talent in his youth, Owen faced many injuries throughout his career, which in later years affected his pace, fitness, mobility and the overall consistency of his performances.
Personal life
Owen met Louise Bonsall at primary school in 1984. The couple bought Lower Soughton Manor in Flintshire, North Wales, where they keep his cars and her horses. They were engaged on 14 February 2004, and married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in Chester, Cheshire. The couple had initially planned to get married at their home, but changed plans when they were informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be made available for other weddings for three years, so opted to marry in a register office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in the grounds of their home.
Their daughter, Gemma Rose, was born on 1 May 2003. On 6 February 2006, they had a son named James Michael. Their third child, a daughter, Emily May, was born on 29 October 2007. Their fourth child Jessica was born on 26 February 2010.
After Owen returned to the UK to play for Newcastle, he travelled to a nearby BAE Systems facility on a daily basis in order to fly, by helicopter, to train with his club. However, there is now a helipad installed within the grounds of the house to accommodate Owen's Eurocopter Dauphin, with which he both travels and is training to become a pilot. Owen was eventually banned from training to be a pilot by Newcastle United due to excessive insurance premiums.
Owen also bought an entire street for his extended family in Ewloe, which is in an area close to where he used to live.
In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she was pregnant, they fled.
Owen owns several cars and a helicopter and enjoys horse racing and gambling. He owns many race horses, trained by Tom Dascombe. He bred the horse Brown Panther which won a major race at Royal Ascot in 2011, and the 2015 Dubai Gold Cup. Owen was a brand ambassador for British bookmaker Colossus Bets.
On 24 November 2017, Owen rode on Calder Prince at Ascot and finished second, beaten by Tom Chatfield-Roberts on Golden Wedding. He was one of 10 amateur riders to take part in the seven-furlong 'Prince's Countryside Fund Charity' contest, which was attended by HRH Prince Charles and HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
Owen starred in a series of adverts that charted his life and rise to fame. In 2001, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal "Nestlé Sporties". He also appeared in several adverts for the washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1 million. Owen was selected as one of the two cover athletes for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. He has been an ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998 and has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar.
Owen also starred as himself in the children's television drama show Hero to Zero. In the programme, Owen would emerge from a full size poster of himself in Charlie Brice's room to offer advice in times of crisis.
Owen had indicated that he would like to become involved with Chester in some capacity when he retires, as it was his local team growing up and his father played for the old Chester side which went out of business in March 2010 and was reformed at a lower level.
In January 2018, Owen participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief, winning the episode.
In January 2022, Owen appeared on the third series of The Masked Singer as "Doughnuts". He was seventh to be unmasked.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Owen goal.
Honours
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2000–01
Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Charity Shield: 2001
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
Manchester United
Premier League: 2010–11
Football League Cup: 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 2010
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 2001
World Soccer World Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2000–01
Onze d'Argent: 2001
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998
Premier League Golden Boot: 1997–98, 1998–99
Premier League Player of the Season: 1997–98
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1997–98
PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Month: August 1998
FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: France 1998
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998 (Reserve)
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: Domestic Team of the Decade
FIFA 100
English Football Hall of Fame: 2014
Golden Foot: 2017, as football legend
References
External links
Profile at ManUtd.com
Michael Owen's column in The Times
Photographs and statistics at sporting-heroes.net – England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle
Premier League profile
1979 births
Living people
People from Flintshire
Sportspeople from Chester
English footballers
Association football forwards
Liverpool F.C. players
Real Madrid CF players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
La Liga players
UEFA Cup winning players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
FIFA 100
Ballon d'Or winners
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
England youth international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
English association football commentators
English autobiographers
FA Cup Final players
English racehorse owners and breeders
Mold Alexandra F.C. players | false | [
"Don't Tell Me You Do is the ninth overall and fourth North American studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is the first album released by the group on a North American record label. All but two of the tracks were recorded during the fall of 1997 and originally released on the independent album Rockapella. When Rockapella obtained their long-awaited North American record deal in 1998, the songs \"Moments of You\" and \"Hold Out For Christmas\" were added in the place of \"Bed of Nails\" and Don't Tell Me You Do was released in the spring of 1999. In 2004, when the album was re-released on Shakariki Records, the then rare 1997 studio recording of the song \"Bed of Nails\" from the original album, Rockapella, returned to the track list in the place of \"Hold Out For Christmas\", which can be found on the group's holiday album Christmas.\n\nTrack listings\n\nOriginal track listing\n\nRe-release track listing\n\nPersonnel\nScott Leonard – high tenor\nKevin Wright – tenor\nElliott Kerman – baritone\nBarry Carl – bass\nJeff Thacher – vocal percussion\n\nNotes \n\n1999 albums\nRockapella albums",
"\"Only Tongue Can Tell\" is a song by Scottish band The Trash Can Sinatras, which was released in 1990 as the second single from their debut studio album Cake. The song was written and produced by all five band members. \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" reached No. 77 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 8 in the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.\n\nMusic video\nThe song's music video was directed by Mike Bell and produced by Grace Wells. It achieved breakout rotation on MTV.\n\nCritical reception\nOn its release, Penny Kiley of the Liverpool Echo considered the song a \"fine follow up\" to \"Obscurity Knocks\". She praised the \"good songwriting\", \"catchy guitars\", \"attractive harmonies\" and \"son-of-Morrissey vocals\". In a review of Cake, Brent Ainsworth of the Santa Cruz Sentinel described \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" as a \"playful romp through a green pasture of tinny guitar on a fresh-air keyboard backdrop\".\n\nTrack listing\n7-inch and cassette single\n \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" – 3:45\n \"Useless\" – 4:32\n\n12-inch and CD single\n \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" – 3:45\n \"Useless\" – 4:32\n \"Tonight You Belong to Me\" – 2:38\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the UK CD single liner notes and the Cake booklet.\n\nThe Trash Can Sinatras\n Frank Reader – vocals\n Paul Livingston – lead guitar\n John Douglas – rhythm guitar\n George McDaid – bass\n Stephen Douglas – drums\n\nAdditional musicians\n Clark Sorley – keyboards on \"Only Tongue Can Tell\"\n\nProduction\n The Trash Can Sinatras – producers of \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" and \"Tonight You Belong to Me\"\n Roger Béchirian – producer of \"Useless\"\n Tony Harris – mixing on \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" and \"Tonight You Belong to Me\"\n John Leckie – mixing on \"Useless\"\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1990 songs\n1990 singles\nGo! Discs singles"
]
|
[
"Michael Owen",
"Debut season",
"What year was his debut season?",
"On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United.",
"How was he able to get that deal?",
"He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from \"out of the blue",
"Was he happy about it?",
"I don't know.",
"Can you tell me more details of the deal?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_162d17e57ffc483495bc8333e99f0842_1 | What were some of the highlights from his debut season? | 5 | What were some of the highlights from Michael Owen's debut season? | Michael Owen | On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with reigning Premier League champions Manchester United. He said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1-0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5-0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford as he netted in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4-3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after netting in the Merseyside derby, El Clasico and the Tyne-Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important. On 27 October, Owen notched a goal in the 2-0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3-1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season. CANNOTANSWER | Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian | Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.
The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer. In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances. Regarded as one of the greatest Liverpool players, Owen came 14th in the "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", an official Liverpool fan poll. In 2004, Owen was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004. There he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million. This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent. He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012. Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League. On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football. He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.
Early life
Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen. His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family. A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.
At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team. At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals. Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight. Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player. Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt. He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra. After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.
Club career
Liverpool
At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool. Brian Kidd came down from Manchester United and there was also interest from Chelsea and Arsenal. But Steve Heighway, the Liverpool youth development officer, wrote to Owen personally. Terry Owen stated: "[Heighway] wrote us a smashing letter and it was love at first sight for Michael, he was impressed from day one." Owen subsequently signed with the Liverpool youth team. The club then persuaded Owen to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Owen was soon playing for England teams from under-15 upwards, breaking several scoring records with 28 goals in 20 games for the England u-15s and u-16s. Owen also scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield youth ranks. Throughout this time, Owen had continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs. Despite the academic success, Owen was adamant his future was a professional football career with Liverpool.
In the 1995–96 season, Owen played for Liverpool's youth team even though he was still at Lilleshall. Most of the players were 18, but Owen was only 16. He scored a hat-trick against FA Youth Cup holders Manchester United in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner in extra time. Owen subsequently scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win in the first leg of the semi against Crystal Palace. Liverpool were 3–0 down after only 50 minutes in the second leg, but with Owen taking control of the match and scoring twice, the team ran out as 7–5 winners. Liverpool faced West Ham United in the final, played over two legs as well. West Ham had not lost in 24 consecutive games, and had future England stars Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Owen missed the first leg at Upton Park as he was on tour duty with the England under-16 team in the European youth championship in Austria. He returned for the second-leg where Liverpool had fallen behind early but Owen equalised with his eleventh goal in five cup matches and Liverpool won the match 2–1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the FA Youth Cup in the club's history and Owen was widely considered the star of the FA Cup campaign.
1996–2000
Owen celebrated his seventeenth birthday by signing a professional contract with Liverpool. He was handed a place in Roy Evans' senior squad, with Steve Heighway stating that, "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Owen also declared his aim was "a first-team place in the next year or so". Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared, "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, the championship-winning coach of the England under-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Robbie Fowler.
On 6 May 1997, Owen scored on his Liverpool debut against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Liverpool were league title challengers to Manchester United but their failure to beat Wimbledon in the penultimate game of the league season handed the championship to United. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "[Only] Michael Owen could emerge with any credit from a performance that mocked Anfield's rich traditions." Owen, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, "[breathed] new life into the Reds' championship corpse," and "began [Liverpool's] best spell of the night", but was ultimately not able to salvage a win. The Liverpool Echo stated, "It was a debut marked in the grand manner."
Owen replaced the injured Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's first choice striker in 1997–98. He won the Premier League Golden Boot and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Owen also finished in third place in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams. Owen recorded many personal feats during the season and helped Liverpool challenge for the league championship, but ultimately a run of bad form in February saw the club bowing out of the title race. The Liverpool Echo wrote that, "[Owen] has become Liverpool's most precious performer and, quite simply, their saviour." Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5 million during the season. His £10,000-a-week deal made him the highest-paid teenager in the history of British football. Owen was runner-up to Zinedine Zidane in the World Player of the Year award, also finishing in fourth position in the FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year international awards.
Owen retained the Premier League Golden Boot in 1998–99 despite incurring a hamstring injury against Leeds United that prematurely brought his season to an end on 12 April. With his pace identified as his greatest strength, Liverpool's game had revolved around feeding him with through passes and long balls. Owen constantly moved from static positions to full speed in a matter of split seconds. ESPN wrote, "It [would] eventually [prove] too much for [Owen's] hamstring to handle. Liverpool failed to challenge for the league title that season despite Owen's brilliant form. The club had appointed a new manager in Gérard Houllier and were transitioning out of the Spice Boys era. Owen ended the 1998–99 season as runners-up to Nicolas Anelka in the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Owen returned to action after almost five months of layoff during the 1999–2000 season. He played intermittently throughout the season and ended up ceding the Golden Boot to Kevin Phillips. He had completed only six full games by January and, during a frustrating spell punctuated by recurring breakdowns, had managed to stay the 90 minutes only three times since mid-October. Owen injured his hamstring once again while playing against Middlesbrough in January. He remained out of action for well over a month and later received treatment from German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The persistent hamstring problems ended up robbing Liverpool of Owen for a third of a season in which a lack of goals eventually cost them a place in the Champions League.
2000–2004
Owen helped Liverpool to a treble in 2000–01, as the team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to end a six-year trophy drought. Owen was the recipient of the European Player of the Year award in recognition of his performances that season. He became the first English winner of the European Footballer of the Year award since Kevin Keegan was given the honour in 1979. Owen scored both Liverpool goals late in the 2001 FA Cup Final to turn around what had appeared to be a certain defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Arsenal.
Liverpool and Owen challenged for the league championship during the 2001–02 season. The team eventually finished runners-up to Arsenal, with Owen playing a key part in the campaign. On 29 December 2001, Owen scored his 100th goal for Liverpool during the season against West Ham United. He also led them to success in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup during the start of the season in 2001. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Owen signed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week with Liverpool during the season, making him one of the highest earners in the English Premiership.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez started as early as in March 2002 to pursue Owen. Pérez declared his intentions to make Owen the next Galáctico, stating that "the best players must play for Real Madrid". Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier laughed off any apparent interest, saying, "They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me."
Owen continued with strong performances in the 2002–03 season which saw Liverpool top the league table and remain unbeaten for several months. However, a run of disastrous results starting from November and culminating in January saw the team bow out of the title race. Chelsea pipped Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Owen was also controversially overlooked for the PFA Player of the Year award during the season. He had continued establishing personal records with Liverpool and had scored his 100th Premier League goal on 26 April against West Bromwich Albion. Success in the League Cup also meant that Liverpool had ended up with a trophy for a third consecutive season. Owen had scored in the League Cup Final against Manchester United to clinch the trophy for Liverpool.
Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League led to speculation about Owen's long-term future. Transfer speculation had continued linking him to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Owen was quoted as saying, "I really have to be playing in the Champions League and that is something [Liverpool] have to remedy." Owen would later refute the quote, stating, "Some of the words I never even said and the rest were taken completely out of context."
Houllier moved to re-shape the Liverpool squad in 2003 to reassure Owen. He stated, "We want to win the title. This is our vision at Liverpool – and we want to win it with Michael in our team." Michael is a genuine world-class player. He has had a great season and I think he will be even better next season." Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce was quoted as saying, "Stop Michael Owen scoring and you are 50 per cent towards getting a result at Anfield," while Owen had admitted to being frustrated at the lack of support play from his teammates.
After a shaky start to the 2003–04 season, Liverpool emerged as title contenders once more, with Owen leading the charge. Owen, however, would suffer an ankle injury while playing against Arsenal on 3 October and consequently went through "three months of injury nightmare". Owen only played intermittently over the following months, suffering from niggling ankle and hamstring injuries, while Liverpool's season fell apart. After a goal drought lasting nine games and three months, Owen returned to fitness and scoring form with a goal against Manchester City on 11 February. Owen helped reignite Liverpool's hunt for fourth spot, scoring his 150th goal for Liverpool in the subsequent match against Portsmouth on 15 February, and although suffering from further injuries, ultimately led Liverpool to the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998, Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club. Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.
Real Madrid
Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen joined the club during its Galácticos era, and played alongside Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and his England teammate David Beckham.
Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv. A few days later, he scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches.
On 10 April 2005, Owen scored Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–2 El Clásico win over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Owen ended the 2004–05 season with 13 goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Madrid's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista, in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 16 goals from 45 games, 26 of which were starts.
Newcastle United
On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed to a club record fee of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amid rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. On 31 August 2005, Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool. Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player. Several days after signing, he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September, Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham United on 17 December. It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot and head.
On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March, but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle. His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match, Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot. He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so-called "club-versus-country" row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and The Football Association (FA) for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty. Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, FIFA and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling approximately £2 million for the time he was out of action. By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20 million. The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from FIFA over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.
Newcastle's compensation claim included the £10 million cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2 million towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen. In February 2007, FIFA made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1 million. By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games. The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with FIFA and the FA; FIFA indicated that the settlement was between £6 million and £7 million. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10 million. Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.
Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises. He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later. Owen then started his first game for Newcastle in over a year, a 1–0 loss against Reading on 30 April 2007. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.
Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with teammate Matty Pattison.
On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10 million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him". In a video posted on YouTube, however, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself. Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad". This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched. On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and said he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving. On 12 July 2007, however, Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle, stating, "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."
On 17 July 2007, he scored for Newcastle in a pre-season friendly against Hartlepool United. Several days later, Owen picked up a thigh injury in training. Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce said that Owen was likely to miss the start of the forthcoming Premier League season due to the injury which "doesn't look as encouraging as we first thought". Owen made his comeback from injury in a club friendly on 13 August 2007 and declared himself available for Newcastle's next match, against Aston Villa, as well as England's forthcoming international matches. On 29 August 2007, Owen scored his first competitive goal for Newcastle since December 2005 when he scored in the League Cup against Barnsley. Three days later, he scored in the league with a late winner against Wigan Athletic.
In late September 2007, after an encouraging start to the season playing for both Newcastle and England, it was reported that he would urgently require an operation for a double hernia and would likely be out of action for at least a month. In his first match back from the hernia operation, he scored a late goal coming off the substitutes bench to clinch victory for Newcastle over Everton.
In November 2007, Owen suffered a thigh strain while on international duty, ruling him out for six weeks. This reignited the "club or country" row, with then Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce voicing his disappointment that Owen was risked in a low-key friendly game against Austria.
After over three months without a goal, Owen scored the first goal of the second Kevin Keegan era in a 4–1 FA Cup third round replay win over Stoke City on 16 January 2008, although Keegan was only a spectator in the stands for this game. Owen was awarded the captaincy by Keegan on 19 January 2008. He scored his first league goal of 2008 on 3 February. Owen's goal in the 2–0 defeat of Fulham on 22 March 2008, which marked Newcastle's first win under Keegan's second spell as manager, also marked the first time in his Newcastle career that Owen had scored more goals for Newcastle than against them. By 5 April 2008, after his and the team's early season poor form, Owen had scored six goals in the previous six matches, with Newcastle registering four wins and two draws, lifting Newcastle into mid-table after earlier relegation fears. In the final game of the season, Owen scored in a 3–1 loss at Everton, finishing with 11 goals in total, putting him in equal 13th position for Premier League goals for the 2007–08 season.
Owen missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008–09 season due to a bout of mumps, which also kept him out of the international friendlies with the USA and Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. He made his return in the second game of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 23 August 2008, coming on in the 53rd minute for the injured Obafemi Martins. He scored the winning header in the 71st minute, with the game finishing 1–0. Three days later, he was named on the bench in a League Cup match away to Coventry City, he came on as a substitute and scored the winner in extra time in a 2–3 victory. In the 2008–09 season, he featured more consistently than in prior seasons, scoring four goals in twelve league appearances.
Under the transfer rules, with the 2008–09 season being the final year of his contract with Newcastle, Owen would have been allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs during January. On 22 December 2008, Owen rejected a new contract offer from Newcastle, but stated that he would not be seeking a move in the January transfer window and instead intended to postpone talks over his contract situation until the end of the season. With speculation over his future continuing in the second half of the season, Owen received "substantial damages" in June in the High Court in London and a public apology following a story on 15 May in the Daily Express alleging that due to a lack of interest from Premier League clubs, Owen's career was effectively finished and he intended to retire.
After a disastrous season in general for the club, which culminated in Owen's former Newcastle and England teammate Alan Shearer being brought in as a temporary manager for the final eight games of the season, on the final day of the season on 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. On 14 June, it was reported that Owen's management company Wasserman Media Group had sent out a 34-page brochure advertising Owen to several potential clubs. On 22 June, Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or another top-flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
In September 2019, Owen stated that he regretted his move to Newcastle. "I didn't want to go there – my heart was set on a return to Liverpool."
Manchester United
Debut season
On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Manchester United, arch rivals of Liverpool. A surprise move, Owen said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson was "out of the blue". He signed a pay-as-you-play deal and was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The shirt had previously been worn by many of United's other illustrious players over the years, including Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
Owen scored his first goal for United on his debut, scoring an 84th-minute winner after coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against a Malaysian XI; he followed this up by scoring three more goals in United's pre-season games. Owen made his league debut for United when he came on as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 August in a 1–0 win, and scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt against Wigan Athletic on 22 August in a 5–0 away win. On 20 September, Owen scored his first goal at Old Trafford, in the sixth minute of stoppage time against local rivals Manchester City to give United a 4–3 derby win. This meant that Owen had now scored in his fourth derby, after scoring in the Merseyside derby, El Clásico and the Tyne–Wear derby in previous years. Owen struggled to recall the moments immediately after the goal, and said that it ranked as one of his most important.
On 27 October, Owen scored a goal in the 2–0 away win against Barnsley to qualify United past the fourth round of the League Cup. On 3 November, Owen scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United, as he grabbed United's first in the 3–3 draw against CSKA Moscow. Owen's seemingly slim chances of earning a place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in 2010 received a boost when on 8 December 2009, Owen scored his first hat-trick for Manchester United in a 3–1 away win against VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League, his first hat-trick since 2005. On 28 February 2010, Owen scored United's first goal in their 2–1 victory over Aston Villa in the 2010 League Cup final, but had to be substituted after pulling up on 42 minutes. Originally thought to be a minor injury, on 5 March it was announced Owen required surgery on his hamstring, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
2010–11
Owen scored his first goal for United back from injury in a 7–1 pre-season victory against a League of Ireland XI on 4 August 2010 at the newly built Aviva Stadium. On 22 September 2010, Owen scored twice during a 5–2 away win over Scunthorpe United in the third round of the League Cup, his first goals of the season. Four days later, Owen scored his first league goal of the season, United's second equaliser with his first touch in a 2–2 away draw against Bolton Wanderers. Owen's first goal of 2011 came in United's 2–1 FA Cup victory over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on 29 January. On 25 February, United manager Alex Ferguson said that Owen was a key part of his squad for the rest of the season. However, he suffered a groin injury and missed his team's next four games. His return match was on 19 March when he returned to the bench for United's game against Bolton.
By the time of United's penultimate game of the season, he had reached the number of league appearances required for a title winner's medal – his first in 15 seasons as a professional. The game, on 14 May 2011, only required United to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to win the title, and a 1–1 draw secured it for them. Owen was an unused substitute in the game. Owen scored United's final goal in their last league game of the season, at home to Blackpool, in which the Red Devils won 4–2.
Owen was an unused substitute in Man United's Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, marking the end of his season. He signed a one-year extension to his contract on 1 June 2011.
2011–12
Owen started his first game of the season in the third round of the League Cup against Leeds United. He scored two goals in the first half, helping United to progress to the fourth round with a 3–0 win. His first goal came after he advanced to the box and scuffed a shot into the corner of the net. The second goal came on the half-hour mark, when he met Mame Biram Diouf's cross with instant control, before firing a right foot shot into the top. Owen started his second game of the season in the fourth round of the League Cup, against League Two club Aldershot Town. He scored the second goal of the 3–0 win. Dimitar Berbatov completed a run down the right flank before pulling the ball back into the box, with Owen scoring past Ross Worner.
Owen started in United's home Champions League group stage match against Oțelul Galați on 2 November, however he was substituted early in the first half when he pulled up with a thigh injury; this was his last appearance for the team. In February 2012, Owen started light training with the Manchester United squad. From April 2012, Owen started full training but was not yet ready for first team games. On 13 May 2012, Owen was named as a substitute against Sunderland in United's final fixture, but he was not brought on.
On 17 May 2012, Owen announced on Twitter that Manchester United would not be offering him a new deal, ending his three-year association with the club.
Stoke City
On 4 September 2012, Owen joined Stoke City on a one-year contract. He was handed the number 10 shirt from the departed Ricardo Fuller and made his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City on 15 September. The start to his time at Stoke was hampered by a hamstring injury. Owen scored his first and only goal for Stoke on 19 January 2013 in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal since 25 October 2011. In doing so, he became only the seventh player to reach 150 Premier League goals.
On 19 March 2013, Owen announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season. He was restricted to just eight Premier League appearances for Stoke, all coming from the substitutes bench, including in his final appearance on 19 May 2013 against Southampton, where he received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.
International career
Owen was capped 89 times for England and scored 40 goals. He is sixth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Wayne Rooney (53), Bobby Charlton (49), Gary Lineker (48), Harry Kane (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He is also England's second-highest goalscorer in competitive international matches, behind Rooney. His 89 caps also place him as England's eleventh most capped player.
Owen played for England at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. He scored goals in all but one of these tournaments, making him the only player ever to have scored in four major tournaments for England.
Emergence
Owen had a highly successful record at Youth level, playing for the England under-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and scoring three goals in four games. He played once for the England under-21 team, scoring in a win over Greece at Carrow Road.
He made his debut for the England senior team in a 2–0 friendly loss to Chile on 11 February 1998. This made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age.
Owen's youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the country, and many fans were keen for him to be selected for the 1998 World Cup in France. In a pre-World Cup friendly against Morocco, Owen scored his first goal for England. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
1998 World Cup
Owen was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute in the opening match against Tunisia. In the following match, a 2–1 defeat to Romania, Owen again appeared as a substitute. His equalising goal made him England's youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days. In stoppage time, he hit the post with a long range shot, almost salvaging a point from the game. Because of his impact against Romania, Hoddle selected Owen in the starting line-up for England's decisive group match against Colombia. England won the match and Owen retained his place for the second round match against Argentina.
After Argentina had taken a sixth-minute lead, Owen was fouled in the penalty area by Roberto Ayala and Alan Shearer equalised with the penalty kick. In the 16th minute, Owen gave England a 2–1 lead with a sensational individual goal. After beating defenders Ayala and José Chamot, he struck the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Roa from just outside the penalty box. In 2013, the goal was voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually drew the match and went out of the tournament on penalties, with Owen successfully converting his kick. At the end of the year, he won a public vote to be elected winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title.
Euro 2000
Owen started the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying phase as a regular in the England starting line-up. However, injury problems meant he missed much of the campaign as England struggled, with Hoddle being replaced by Kevin Keegan. On 4 September 1999, he scored his first goal at Wembley Stadium in a 6–0 win over Luxembourg.
At the finals, Owen scored once in three matches, as England were knocked out at the group stage.
2002 World Cup
After Alan Shearer's retirement, Owen took over as England's senior striker under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He scored six times during 2002 World Cup qualifying, including a hat-trick against Germany at Munich's Olympiastadion, as England won the qualifying group. His performances saw him named European Footballer of the Year for 2001.
In April 2002, he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore in 1963, and in the following few seasons regularly deputised for Beckham as Eriksson's vice-captain.
At the 2002 World Cup finals, Owen failed to score during the group stage. However, he was fouled for England's match winning penalty kick in the 1–0 win over Argentina. Owen scored in England's second round match against Denmark and then gave England an early lead in the 2–1 quarter-final defeat against Brazil.
Euro 2004
Owen scored five times in qualification for Euro 2004.
At the tournament proper, Owen again failed to score during the group stage. He then scored in the third minute of the quarter-final with Portugal, becoming the first England player to score in four consecutive major tournaments. England went on to lose on penalties after a 2–2 draw.
2006 World Cup
In qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Owen scored five goals.
In May 2005, he scored his second international hat-trick in a friendly match against Colombia at Giants Stadium. In another pre-World Cup friendly, Owen scored two late goals to give England a 3–2 win over rivals Argentina in November 2005.
Owen made his debut for the England B-team in a friendly against Belarus on 25 May 2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 World Cup. He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being substituted.
Owen started England's first two games of the 2006 World Cup, against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, but did not manage to score. After playing only 51 seconds of his third appearance of the tournament, and 80th cap, in the final group game against Sweden, Owen badly twisted his right knee and was forced to leave the match on a stretcher. A scan of the injury on 21 June confirmed that Owen had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the tournament. In March 2009, Owen admitted that all injuries he was sustaining were relating back to his injury in the 2006 World Cup tournament, and that he should not have returned prematurely from injury to participate in the competition.
Final appearances
Owen underwent successful reconstruction surgery, carried out by Richard Steadman, on 6 September 2006. The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed England's first six matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the England B game against Albania, and was named in the full squad for the first England match at the new Wembley Stadium against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia, with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal." He played in both matches and scored against Estonia, breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals in competitive internationals for England.
On 12 September 2007, Owen scored twice for England in a 3–0 win over Russia, becoming the first player to score international goals at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums. These were to be Owen's final goals for England.
After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, manager Steve McClaren was replaced by Fabio Capello. Owen made only one appearance under Capello, as a substitute in a friendly against France in March 2008.
Style of play
In his prime, Owen was highly regarded for his great pace, opportunism and agility, as well as his technical ability and his eye for goal, which enabled him to be considered one of the greatest English and Premier League strikers of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, Owen was a powerful and accurate finisher, who was also effective with his head, despite his lack of height. He was also capable of linking up with and creating chances for teammates due to his short passing ability and vision. Despite, or even due to, his precocious talent in his youth, Owen faced many injuries throughout his career, which in later years affected his pace, fitness, mobility and the overall consistency of his performances.
Personal life
Owen met Louise Bonsall at primary school in 1984. The couple bought Lower Soughton Manor in Flintshire, North Wales, where they keep his cars and her horses. They were engaged on 14 February 2004, and married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in Chester, Cheshire. The couple had initially planned to get married at their home, but changed plans when they were informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be made available for other weddings for three years, so opted to marry in a register office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in the grounds of their home.
Their daughter, Gemma Rose, was born on 1 May 2003. On 6 February 2006, they had a son named James Michael. Their third child, a daughter, Emily May, was born on 29 October 2007. Their fourth child Jessica was born on 26 February 2010.
After Owen returned to the UK to play for Newcastle, he travelled to a nearby BAE Systems facility on a daily basis in order to fly, by helicopter, to train with his club. However, there is now a helipad installed within the grounds of the house to accommodate Owen's Eurocopter Dauphin, with which he both travels and is training to become a pilot. Owen was eventually banned from training to be a pilot by Newcastle United due to excessive insurance premiums.
Owen also bought an entire street for his extended family in Ewloe, which is in an area close to where he used to live.
In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she was pregnant, they fled.
Owen owns several cars and a helicopter and enjoys horse racing and gambling. He owns many race horses, trained by Tom Dascombe. He bred the horse Brown Panther which won a major race at Royal Ascot in 2011, and the 2015 Dubai Gold Cup. Owen was a brand ambassador for British bookmaker Colossus Bets.
On 24 November 2017, Owen rode on Calder Prince at Ascot and finished second, beaten by Tom Chatfield-Roberts on Golden Wedding. He was one of 10 amateur riders to take part in the seven-furlong 'Prince's Countryside Fund Charity' contest, which was attended by HRH Prince Charles and HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
Owen starred in a series of adverts that charted his life and rise to fame. In 2001, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal "Nestlé Sporties". He also appeared in several adverts for the washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1 million. Owen was selected as one of the two cover athletes for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. He has been an ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998 and has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar.
Owen also starred as himself in the children's television drama show Hero to Zero. In the programme, Owen would emerge from a full size poster of himself in Charlie Brice's room to offer advice in times of crisis.
Owen had indicated that he would like to become involved with Chester in some capacity when he retires, as it was his local team growing up and his father played for the old Chester side which went out of business in March 2010 and was reformed at a lower level.
In January 2018, Owen participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief, winning the episode.
In January 2022, Owen appeared on the third series of The Masked Singer as "Doughnuts". He was seventh to be unmasked.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Owen goal.
Honours
Liverpool
FA Cup: 2000–01
Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Charity Shield: 2001
UEFA Cup: 2000–01
UEFA Super Cup: 2001
Manchester United
Premier League: 2010–11
Football League Cup: 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 2010
Individual
Ballon d'Or: 2001
World Soccer World Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2000–01
Onze d'Argent: 2001
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998
Premier League Golden Boot: 1997–98, 1998–99
Premier League Player of the Season: 1997–98
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1997–98
PFA Team of the Year: 1997–98 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Month: August 1998
FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: France 1998
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998 (Reserve)
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: Domestic Team of the Decade
FIFA 100
English Football Hall of Fame: 2014
Golden Foot: 2017, as football legend
References
External links
Profile at ManUtd.com
Michael Owen's column in The Times
Photographs and statistics at sporting-heroes.net – England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle
Premier League profile
1979 births
Living people
People from Flintshire
Sportspeople from Chester
English footballers
Association football forwards
Liverpool F.C. players
Real Madrid CF players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
La Liga players
UEFA Cup winning players
First Division/Premier League top scorers
FIFA 100
Ballon d'Or winners
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
England youth international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
English association football commentators
English autobiographers
FA Cup Final players
English racehorse owners and breeders
Mold Alexandra F.C. players | true | [
"The Football League Show is a BBC One football television show, primarily hosted by Manish Bhasin. It features match highlights from the Championship, League One and League Two. It began on 8 August 2009, at 11:45 pm and immediately followed Match of the Day on Saturdays. Similar to other BBC Sport studio shows, UK-based users of the BBC website could watch a live simulcast of the programme. The programme was made in Studio C at IMG studios, London. Football League highlights moved to Channel 5 for the 2015–2016 season, thus ending the BBC's version of the programme.\n\nFormat\nThe programme had a similar format to ITV's Championship Goals, with a featured match receiving full highlights and all the goals from the other matches (thus repeating Match of the Day's format used in the early to the mid-90s). There could also be extensive highlights of any matches covered live by Sky Sports or the BBC itself. The programme was studio-based.\n\nThe first ever episode featured Steve Claridge and Ian Holloway but from the second episode onwards only featured Claridge as pundit or on some occasions former Torquay United and Brentford manager Leroy Rosenior. Occasionally both Claridge and Rosenior have appeared on the same programme offering analysis of matches.\n\nWhen there were only Championship or League One and League Two matches played, the show was pre-recorded from the stadium of the featured match, rather than being live from the studio. These shows were often shorter than the regular ones. On 23 March 2013, the show was only 20 minutes long, this being the shortest show in the series and the first not to have a featured matches.\n\nPresenter, commentators and reporters\nThe presenter of the show was Manish Bhasin, who left Football Focus to present. Whenever Bhasin was unavailable, the programme was hosted by Mark Chapman, Mark Clemmit, Damian Johnson or Jason Mohammad.\n\nDuring each season, a number of reporters provided match roundups from the three divisions of the Football League. Regular reporters included Dave Beckett, Nick Halling, Paul Walker, Dan O'Hagan, Dan Mason, Tony Lockwood, Chris Maughan, Mick Conway, Sue Thearle, James Richardson and Jonathan Legard. Commentators on featured matches included John Roder, Martin Fisher, Tony Gubba, Kevin Keatings, Jon Champion, Jonathan Pearce, Guy Mowbray, Simon Brotherton and Steve Wilson.\n\nBBC Radio 5 Live's Mark Clemmit was the roving reporter, who visited a ground to spend the day with a team each week. This was similar in style to Kevin Day's reports on Match of the Day 2.\n\nInteractive\nThere was also an interactive email segment where fans expressed their points of view. These emails were read out by one of the BBC's sports news presenters, mainly Jacqui Oatley or Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes. This feature was dropped from the start of the 2011–12 football season.\n\nOther programmes\nThe BBC's rights deal with the Football League also included the Football League Cup, where the programme was rebranded as The Football League Cup Show. Highlights of the Football League Trophy final were also shown on the BBC, where the show was simply branded as the Football League Trophy Final. Rather than being broadcast live from a studio, it was recorded pitchside from Wembley Stadium, the venue of the final. Highlights from the earlier rounds were available on the BBC Sport website up until the 2011–12 season.\n\nA regional spin-off programme, Late Kick Off, launched on Monday 18 January 2010, broadcasting weekly from January until the end of the season.\n\nEnd of the programme\nIn 2015, the BBC lost the rights to the Football League to Channel 5 beginning in August of that year, with Channel 5 offering the same money that the BBC paid for the previous three years but promising to show highlights at 9 pm, rather than after Match of the Day, which had been the traditional home while on the BBC. The last Football League Show aired on 25 May 2015, with highlights of the Championship play-off final from Wembley Stadium between Middlesbrough and Norwich City. The final few editions of the Football League Show featured memories and highlights from the past six seasons and featured credits naming all who worked on the show. Channel 5 showed highlights from the Football League's competitions on its own programme, Football League Tonight until August 2018 when they show the highlights on QUEST.\n\nSee also\n\n The Championship\n Football League Extra\n Football League Tonight\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2009 British television series debuts\n2015 British television series endings\n2000s British sports television series\n2010s British sports television series\nBritish sports television series\nEnglish Football League on television\nBBC Television shows\nBBC Sport",
"Albert Frederick Pannam (2 July 1882 – 22 August 1968) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was also a field and boundary umpire between 1914 and 1929.\n\nFootball career\nPannam, who made his debut in the 1907 VFL season, played 13 games in each of his first two years at Collingwood, both of which ended with participation in semi final loses. He made just two appearances in 1909 before leaving the club and applying, unsuccessfully, to join a VFA club.\n\nOriginally from Wynyard, Pannam represented Tasmania at the 1908 Melbourne Carnival.\n\nHe was the brother of Australian rules legend Charlie, Sr., as well as the uncle of namesake Alby and dual premiership player Charlie Pannam Jr.\n\nUmpiring\nPannam was appointed to the VFL list of umpires in 1914 and made his debut as a boundary umpire in round 4 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in the Essendon v. Richmond match. He was appointed only as a boundary umpire that year compiling 10 matches. The following year he umpired three country matches between 29 May and 19 June.\n\nHe was quickly acquainted with the difficulties of country umpiring as his first match, played at Wandin, was delayed by the arrival of the visitors and he missed his train home back to Melbourne. Some weeks later he received praise from the local press for his handling of the Sale v. Traralgon match, but from this point it is unclear what Pannam undertook before he again appears on the umpiring scene in 1921. That year he returned to the VFL and officiated in two senior matches as a boundary umpire and 17 as a country field umpire. The highlights of the year were preliminary and grand finals in the Corangamite Football League. The following season, 1922, was his last with the VFL. He umpired 14 country matches bringing his totals to 12 VFL matches and 35 country.\n\nPannam moved to the VFA for three seasons in 1923, but was appointed irregularly during that initial year. He made his senior debut as a field umpire on 14 June 1924 - Geelong v. Brighton.\n\nMoving to the Federal Association in 1928 he umpired the grand final on the boundary that year and completed his umpiring career at the end of 1929.\n\nSee also\n 1908 Melbourne Carnival\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1882 births\n1968 deaths\nCollingwood Football Club players\nWynyard Football Club players\nAustralian people of Greek descent\nAustralian rules footballers from Tasmania\nAustralian Football League umpires\nVictorian Football Association umpires"
]
|
[
"Charlie Ward",
"Professional career"
]
| C_ff1bedbe27af43319a97ec0e1b06638f_0 | what did charlie do? | 1 | what did charlie Ward do? | Charlie Ward | Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Because teams did not want to waste a first-round pick on a player that might eventually choose the NBA, and because of his smaller stature, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Instead of pursuing a career as a football player in the NFL, and having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. To this day, Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA. Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004-05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired. During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position. Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court. Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs. CANNOTANSWER | he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. | Charlie Ward, Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quarterbacking the Florida State Seminoles. Despite his college football success, he was famously not drafted to the NFL, opting instead to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ward played for nine years with the New York Knicks and started in the 1999 NBA Finals. He later had short spells with the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, before retiring in 2005. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
College football
Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for The Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. The Seminoles had suffered their only defeat of the season to a second-ranked Notre Dame team, but their path to the National Championship was cleared a week later when the Irish were upset at home by Boston College. Ward holds the fourth-largest margin of victory in the history of Heisman trophy balloting, with a 1,622-point difference, fourth only to Joe Burrow's 1,846 point win in 2019, O. J. Simpson's 1,750-point win in 1968 and Troy Smith's 1,662-point win in 2006. He was also the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA. In 1993, Charlie Ward won the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
College basketball
Ward also played basketball for four years at The Florida State University (FSU). Former teammates included future NBA players Bob Sura, Doug Edwards, and Sam Cassell. His 1993 team made it to the Southeast Regional Final where they lost to Kentucky 106–81 with the winner advancing to the Final Four. Ward's 1992 team made the Sweet Sixteen. He made the game-winning shot in its Metro Conference Tournament Championship game win over Louisville in 1991. Ward still holds FSU basketball records for career steals at 236 and steals in one game at 9, and ranks sixth all-time in assists at 396. He played a shortened season his senior year, joining the basketball team just 15 days after winning the Heisman Trophy. He started 16 games at the point guard position that year, and averaged a college career high of 10.5 points and 4.9 assists for the season.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1990–91
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 30 || – || 23.8 || .455 || .313 || .713 || 3.0|| 3.4 || 2.4 || .3 || 8.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1991–92
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 28 || 22 || 30.0 || .497 || .458 || .530 || 3.2 || 4.4 || 2.7 || .2 || 7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1992–93
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 17 || 14 || 32.8 || .462 || .320 || .667 || 2.6 || 5.5 || 2.8 || .3 || 7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 16 || 16 || 35.9 || .365 || .253 || .625 || 3.9 || 4.9 || 2.8 || .1 || 10.5
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 91 || 52 || 29.5 || .441 || .323 || .636 || 3.1 || 4.4 || 2.6 || .2 || 8.1
Professional career
Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Due to his smaller stature and uncertainty about whether he would play in the NBA, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA.
Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004–05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired.
During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position.
Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court.
Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs.
Controversy
In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat, with the Knicks holding a 3–1 series lead, Ward tried to box out P. J. Brown. When he tried to get inside after the free throw shot, Brown became frustrated, then retaliated by lifting Ward up and body-slamming him. This caused a bench-clearing brawl to ensue. After Miami won the game 96–81, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Ward himself, were suspended by the NBA. Ewing, Houston, Johnson, and Starks left the bench during the brawl, which was mandatory cause for suspension according to NBA rules. Brown was suspended for the rest of the series; Ewing, Ward and Houston were suspended for Game 6, and Johnson and Starks were suspended for Game 7. Due to the suspensions, the Knicks were shorthanded and lost Games 6 and 7 to Miami 95–90 and 101–90, respectively, failing to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami would go on to lose to the Chicago Bulls in five games.
In 2001, while playing for the Knicks, it was discovered that Ward had made disparaging comments about Jews during a Bible-study session, comments that were eventually leaked to the press. Among the comments made: "Jews are stubborn...tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless He knew something they didn't want to accept...They had His blood on their hands."
There was outrage directed at Ward from Jewish groups, the public, as well as the Knicks organization itself. Ward defended himself by saying "I didn't mean to offend any one group because that's not what I'm about. I have friends that are Jewish. Actually, my friend is a Jewish guy, and his name is Jesus Christ." He also said the quotes were taken out of context, as he stated that "Jews are stubborn" in speaking to what he perceived to be their disinclination to convert to Christianity.
Ward eventually apologized for those statements, with his apology being accepted by the Anti-Defamation League.
Career statistics
NBA
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||0 ||4.4 ||.211 ||.100 ||.700 ||0.6 ||0.4 ||0.2 ||0 ||1.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|62 ||1 ||12.7 ||.399 ||.333 ||.685 ||1.6 ||2.1 ||0.9 ||0.1 ||3.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|79 ||21 ||22.3 ||.395 ||.312 ||.76 ||2.8 ||4.1 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|82 ||82 ||28.3 ||.455 ||.377 ||.805 ||3.3 ||5.7 ||1.8 ||0.5 ||7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|50 ||50 ||31.1 ||.404 ||.356 ||.705 ||3.4 ||5.4 ||2.1 ||0.2 ||7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|72 ||69 ||27.6 ||.423 ||.386 ||.828 ||3.2 ||4.2 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||7.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|61 ||33 ||24.5 ||.416 ||.383 ||.800 ||2.6 ||4.5 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||7.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|63 ||0 ||16.8 ||.373 ||.323 ||.810 ||2.0 ||3.2 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|66 ||6 ||22.2 ||.399 ||.378 ||.774 ||2.7 ||4.6 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|35 ||10 ||23.6 ||.442 ||.428 ||.762 ||2.7 ||4.9 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||8.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|36 ||0 ||11.8 ||.346 ||.368 ||.667 ||1.3 ||1.3 ||0.5 ||0.1 ||3.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| Houston
|14 ||13 ||25.7 ||.312 ||.314 ||.846 ||2.8 ||3.1 ||1.1 ||0 ||5.4
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|630 ||285 ||22.3 ||.408 ||.364 ||.771 ||2.6 ||4.0 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||6.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1996
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|7 ||0 ||13.1 ||.481 ||.250 ||.429 ||1.3 ||2.4 ||1.6 ||.0 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1997
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|9 ||0 ||20.2 ||.296 ||.111 ||.750 ||2.8 ||4.3 ||1.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||10 ||26.1 ||.418 ||.429 ||.688 ||2.8 ||6.0 ||2.0 ||0.2 ||6.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|20 ||20 ||24.7 ||.366 ||.321 ||.750 ||2.3 ||3.8 ||1.8 ||0.2 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2000
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|16 ||16 ||27.4 ||.504 ||.396 ||.714 ||4.3 ||4.1 ||1.4 ||0.3 ||9.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|5 ||0 ||17.2 ||.296 ||.250 ||1.000 ||1.4 ||1.4 ||0.4 ||.0 ||5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2004
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|5 ||0 ||2.6 ||.667 ||1.000 ||– ||.0 ||0.2 ||0.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|72 ||46 ||21.8 ||.422||.349||0.710||2.5||3.7||1.5'||0.1||5.5
Personal life
Ward is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He and his wife Tonja have three children: Caleb, Hope, and Joshua (Trashaun) In June 2007, Ward was hired as an assistant coach for the varsity boys basketball team by Westbury Christian School in Houston, Texas, having passed on many professional sports opportunities. He was previously an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets. In addition, in November 2007, he accepted the job as head coach for the varsity football team at Westbury Christian School, stating that his desire is to help prepare young minds for Christ. In February 2014, it was announced that Ward accepted the head coaching position at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, where his son Caleb would be attending and playing football. As of March 8, 2018, Charlie is the Ambassador of Football for Florida State University. In March 2018, Ward became the head Boys' Basketball coach for Florida State University Schools (FSUS or Florida High) in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently Florida High's Boys Basketball program has improved since Ward's arrival. Charlie is also the host of a web series, Chalk Talk with Charlie Ward, where he discusses his thoughts on Florida State Seminole Football.
In June 2018, while on a church mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, Ward suffered a stroke. He has since made a full recovery. Ward switched to a vegan diet and began a more consistent workout regimen to improve his health and prevent another stroke in the future.
Acting career
Charlie Ward made his acting debut on the Netflix comedy series Family Reunion episode "Remember M'dear's Fifteen Minutes?" playing himself in 2020.
References
External links
1970 births
Living people
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
African-American Christians
African-American coaches of American football
African-American players of American football
All-American college football players
American football punters
American football quarterbacks
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Florida State Seminoles football players
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players
Heisman Trophy winners
High school basketball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Texas
Houston Rockets assistant coaches
Houston Rockets players
James E. Sullivan Award recipients
New York Knicks draft picks
New York Knicks players
People from Thomasville, Georgia
Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)
Point guards
San Antonio Spurs players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople | true | [
"Charlie Girl is a musical comedy which premiered in the West End of London at the Adelphi Theatre on December 15, 1965 and became one of the most successful theatre shows of the day running for 2,202 performances. It closed on 27 March 1971.\n\nProductions\n\nOriginal production \nThe original stars were Joe Brown (Joe Studholme), Christine Holmes (Charlie Hadwell), Anna Neagle (Lady Hadwell), Derek Nimmo (Nicholas Wainwright), Hy Hazell (Kay Connor), Jean Lloyd Grant Mostyn and Stuart Damon (Jack Connor). When Joe Brown left the show in 1968, he was replaced by Gerry Marsden (of Gerry & The Pacemakers).\n\nProduction credits included:\n Directed by Wallace Douglas\n Choreographed by Alfred Rodriques\n Setting by Tod Kingman\n Costumes by Cynthia Tingey\n Orchestrations by Arthur Wilkinson\n Musical Direction by Kenneth Alwyn\nNeagle took the show to Australia in 1971 where English co-star Derek Nimmo appeared with popstar John Farnham co-starring as Joe Studholme.\n\nRevival \nThe show was revived in London in 1986 starring Paul Nicholas (Joe), Lisa Hull and later Bonnie Langford (Charlie Hadwell), Cyd Charisse (Lady Hadwell), Nicholas Parsons (Nicholas Wainwright), Dora Bryan (Kay Connor) and Mark Wynter (Jack Connor), running for six months at the Victoria Palace Theatre.\n\nSynopsis\n\nLady Hadwell, the widow of an aristocrat, is struggling to make ends meet by opening her home to the public. The youngest of her three daughters, Charlotte, known as \"Charlie\", is a tomboy. Their loyal assistant, Joe, is in love with Charlie. When he learns he has won a fortune on the football pools, he conceals the fact from his employers. In the meantime, her mother is hoping for an engagement between Charlie and an American millionaire. In a comic moment (a parody of Cinderella), Charlie has to return her hired evening gown, and the rest of the guests at the ball also decide to cavort in their underwear.\n\n1965 Cast Album Song List\n\nAct I\n Overture - Charlie Girl\n Bells Will Ring\n What Would I Get From Being Married\n I Love Him, I Love Him\n What's the Magic\n Let's Do a Deal\n My Favourite Occupation\n I Was Young\n\nAct II \t\n Party of a Lifetime\n I 'ates Money\n Charlie Girl Waltz\n Like Love\nThat's It\n Fish and Chips\nYou Never Know What You Can Do Until You Try It\nCharlie Girl\n\n1972 Australian Cast Recording\n\nCharts\n\n1986 Cast Album Song List\n\nAct I\n Overture\n Most Ancestral Home of All\n Bells Will Ring\n Charlie Girl\n I Love Him, I Love Him (Bells Will Ring)\n What Would I Get From Being Married\n Let's Do a Deal\n My Favorite Occupation\n What's the Magic\n When I Hear Music, I Dance\n\nAct II \t\n I 'ates Money\n Charlie Girl Waltz\n Party of a Lifetime\n Like Love\n That's It\n Washington\n Fish and Chips\n Society Twist\n You Never Know What You Can Do Until You Try\n Bells Will Ring/Charlie Girl (Reprise)\n Charlie Girl (Finale)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe story of Charlie Girl at Guide to Musical Theatre\n\n1965 musicals\nBritish musicals",
"Cars/Williams/Porter/Ellington is a 2014 compilation album by jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola.\n\nThe album collects four EPs recorded by Hunter and Amendola in early 2014, respectively focused on the songs of The Cars, Hank Williams, Cole Porter, and Duke Ellington. Said Hunter,\n\nThe idea is to do these four and see how people respond. We started thinking why do we keep making 10-song CDs. I don’t necessarily want to do 10 Hank Williams songs, but five can work well. As long as the song is good we can put it through the mill, like what we did with T.J. Kirk and the Bob Marley album I made.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPart I: The Cars\n\"Bye Bye Love\" – 5:44\n\"Candy-O\" – 3:43\n\"Double Life\" – 3:29\n\"Good Times Roll\" – 4:40\n\"Let's Go\" – 3:38\n\nPart II: Hank Williams\n\"Move It On Over\" – 4:43\n\"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry\" – 4:07\n\"Cold, Cold Heart\" – 3:39\n\"Ramblin' Man\" – 3:17\n\"Your Cheatin' Heart\" – 3:37\n\nPart III: Duke Ellington\n\"Blue Pepper\" – 2:38\n\"Rockin' in Rhythm\" – 4:09\n\"Day Dream\" –3:24\n\"The Mooche\" – 3:51\n\"Mood Indigo\" – 3:19\n\nPart IV: Cole Porter\n\"Ace in the Hole\" – 3:17\n\"Too Darn Hot\" – 4:18\n\"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye\" – 3:28\n\"Miss Otis Regrets\" – 2:16\n\"Anything Goes\" – 4:19\n\nPersonnel \n Charlie Hunter – seven-string guitar\n Scott Amendola – drums\n\nProduction\n Charlie Hunter – producer\n Scott Amendola – producer\n\nReferences\n\n2014 albums\nCharlie Hunter albums\nBlues albums by American artists"
]
|
[
"Charlie Ward",
"Professional career",
"what did charlie do?",
"he began his career in the NBA as a point guard."
]
| C_ff1bedbe27af43319a97ec0e1b06638f_0 | who did he play for? | 2 | Who did Charlie Ward play for? | Charlie Ward | Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Because teams did not want to waste a first-round pick on a player that might eventually choose the NBA, and because of his smaller stature, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Instead of pursuing a career as a football player in the NFL, and having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. To this day, Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA. Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004-05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired. During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position. Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court. Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs. CANNOTANSWER | the New York Knicks, | Charlie Ward, Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quarterbacking the Florida State Seminoles. Despite his college football success, he was famously not drafted to the NFL, opting instead to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ward played for nine years with the New York Knicks and started in the 1999 NBA Finals. He later had short spells with the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, before retiring in 2005. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
College football
Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for The Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. The Seminoles had suffered their only defeat of the season to a second-ranked Notre Dame team, but their path to the National Championship was cleared a week later when the Irish were upset at home by Boston College. Ward holds the fourth-largest margin of victory in the history of Heisman trophy balloting, with a 1,622-point difference, fourth only to Joe Burrow's 1,846 point win in 2019, O. J. Simpson's 1,750-point win in 1968 and Troy Smith's 1,662-point win in 2006. He was also the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA. In 1993, Charlie Ward won the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
College basketball
Ward also played basketball for four years at The Florida State University (FSU). Former teammates included future NBA players Bob Sura, Doug Edwards, and Sam Cassell. His 1993 team made it to the Southeast Regional Final where they lost to Kentucky 106–81 with the winner advancing to the Final Four. Ward's 1992 team made the Sweet Sixteen. He made the game-winning shot in its Metro Conference Tournament Championship game win over Louisville in 1991. Ward still holds FSU basketball records for career steals at 236 and steals in one game at 9, and ranks sixth all-time in assists at 396. He played a shortened season his senior year, joining the basketball team just 15 days after winning the Heisman Trophy. He started 16 games at the point guard position that year, and averaged a college career high of 10.5 points and 4.9 assists for the season.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1990–91
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 30 || – || 23.8 || .455 || .313 || .713 || 3.0|| 3.4 || 2.4 || .3 || 8.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1991–92
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 28 || 22 || 30.0 || .497 || .458 || .530 || 3.2 || 4.4 || 2.7 || .2 || 7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1992–93
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 17 || 14 || 32.8 || .462 || .320 || .667 || 2.6 || 5.5 || 2.8 || .3 || 7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 16 || 16 || 35.9 || .365 || .253 || .625 || 3.9 || 4.9 || 2.8 || .1 || 10.5
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 91 || 52 || 29.5 || .441 || .323 || .636 || 3.1 || 4.4 || 2.6 || .2 || 8.1
Professional career
Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Due to his smaller stature and uncertainty about whether he would play in the NBA, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA.
Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004–05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired.
During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position.
Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court.
Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs.
Controversy
In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat, with the Knicks holding a 3–1 series lead, Ward tried to box out P. J. Brown. When he tried to get inside after the free throw shot, Brown became frustrated, then retaliated by lifting Ward up and body-slamming him. This caused a bench-clearing brawl to ensue. After Miami won the game 96–81, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Ward himself, were suspended by the NBA. Ewing, Houston, Johnson, and Starks left the bench during the brawl, which was mandatory cause for suspension according to NBA rules. Brown was suspended for the rest of the series; Ewing, Ward and Houston were suspended for Game 6, and Johnson and Starks were suspended for Game 7. Due to the suspensions, the Knicks were shorthanded and lost Games 6 and 7 to Miami 95–90 and 101–90, respectively, failing to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami would go on to lose to the Chicago Bulls in five games.
In 2001, while playing for the Knicks, it was discovered that Ward had made disparaging comments about Jews during a Bible-study session, comments that were eventually leaked to the press. Among the comments made: "Jews are stubborn...tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless He knew something they didn't want to accept...They had His blood on their hands."
There was outrage directed at Ward from Jewish groups, the public, as well as the Knicks organization itself. Ward defended himself by saying "I didn't mean to offend any one group because that's not what I'm about. I have friends that are Jewish. Actually, my friend is a Jewish guy, and his name is Jesus Christ." He also said the quotes were taken out of context, as he stated that "Jews are stubborn" in speaking to what he perceived to be their disinclination to convert to Christianity.
Ward eventually apologized for those statements, with his apology being accepted by the Anti-Defamation League.
Career statistics
NBA
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||0 ||4.4 ||.211 ||.100 ||.700 ||0.6 ||0.4 ||0.2 ||0 ||1.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|62 ||1 ||12.7 ||.399 ||.333 ||.685 ||1.6 ||2.1 ||0.9 ||0.1 ||3.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|79 ||21 ||22.3 ||.395 ||.312 ||.76 ||2.8 ||4.1 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|82 ||82 ||28.3 ||.455 ||.377 ||.805 ||3.3 ||5.7 ||1.8 ||0.5 ||7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|50 ||50 ||31.1 ||.404 ||.356 ||.705 ||3.4 ||5.4 ||2.1 ||0.2 ||7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|72 ||69 ||27.6 ||.423 ||.386 ||.828 ||3.2 ||4.2 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||7.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|61 ||33 ||24.5 ||.416 ||.383 ||.800 ||2.6 ||4.5 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||7.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|63 ||0 ||16.8 ||.373 ||.323 ||.810 ||2.0 ||3.2 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|66 ||6 ||22.2 ||.399 ||.378 ||.774 ||2.7 ||4.6 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|35 ||10 ||23.6 ||.442 ||.428 ||.762 ||2.7 ||4.9 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||8.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|36 ||0 ||11.8 ||.346 ||.368 ||.667 ||1.3 ||1.3 ||0.5 ||0.1 ||3.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| Houston
|14 ||13 ||25.7 ||.312 ||.314 ||.846 ||2.8 ||3.1 ||1.1 ||0 ||5.4
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|630 ||285 ||22.3 ||.408 ||.364 ||.771 ||2.6 ||4.0 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||6.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1996
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|7 ||0 ||13.1 ||.481 ||.250 ||.429 ||1.3 ||2.4 ||1.6 ||.0 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1997
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|9 ||0 ||20.2 ||.296 ||.111 ||.750 ||2.8 ||4.3 ||1.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||10 ||26.1 ||.418 ||.429 ||.688 ||2.8 ||6.0 ||2.0 ||0.2 ||6.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|20 ||20 ||24.7 ||.366 ||.321 ||.750 ||2.3 ||3.8 ||1.8 ||0.2 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2000
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|16 ||16 ||27.4 ||.504 ||.396 ||.714 ||4.3 ||4.1 ||1.4 ||0.3 ||9.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|5 ||0 ||17.2 ||.296 ||.250 ||1.000 ||1.4 ||1.4 ||0.4 ||.0 ||5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2004
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|5 ||0 ||2.6 ||.667 ||1.000 ||– ||.0 ||0.2 ||0.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|72 ||46 ||21.8 ||.422||.349||0.710||2.5||3.7||1.5'||0.1||5.5
Personal life
Ward is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He and his wife Tonja have three children: Caleb, Hope, and Joshua (Trashaun) In June 2007, Ward was hired as an assistant coach for the varsity boys basketball team by Westbury Christian School in Houston, Texas, having passed on many professional sports opportunities. He was previously an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets. In addition, in November 2007, he accepted the job as head coach for the varsity football team at Westbury Christian School, stating that his desire is to help prepare young minds for Christ. In February 2014, it was announced that Ward accepted the head coaching position at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, where his son Caleb would be attending and playing football. As of March 8, 2018, Charlie is the Ambassador of Football for Florida State University. In March 2018, Ward became the head Boys' Basketball coach for Florida State University Schools (FSUS or Florida High) in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently Florida High's Boys Basketball program has improved since Ward's arrival. Charlie is also the host of a web series, Chalk Talk with Charlie Ward, where he discusses his thoughts on Florida State Seminole Football.
In June 2018, while on a church mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, Ward suffered a stroke. He has since made a full recovery. Ward switched to a vegan diet and began a more consistent workout regimen to improve his health and prevent another stroke in the future.
Acting career
Charlie Ward made his acting debut on the Netflix comedy series Family Reunion episode "Remember M'dear's Fifteen Minutes?" playing himself in 2020.
References
External links
1970 births
Living people
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
African-American Christians
African-American coaches of American football
African-American players of American football
All-American college football players
American football punters
American football quarterbacks
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Florida State Seminoles football players
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players
Heisman Trophy winners
High school basketball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Texas
Houston Rockets assistant coaches
Houston Rockets players
James E. Sullivan Award recipients
New York Knicks draft picks
New York Knicks players
People from Thomasville, Georgia
Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)
Point guards
San Antonio Spurs players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople | true | [
"Joseph Jef Nelis was a Belgian footballer, born on 1 April 1917 in Tutbury, Staffordshire, (England), who died on 12 April 1994. Striker for Royal Berchem Sport, he was picked for the World Cup in 1938 in France, but did not play. However, he played two games and scored two goals in 1940 for Belgium.\n\nHonours \n International in 1940 (2 caps and 2 goals)\n Picked for the 1938 World Cup (did not play)\n\nReferences \n\nBelgium international footballers\nBelgian footballers\n1938 FIFA World Cup players\nK. Berchem Sport players\nRoyale Union Saint-Gilloise players\n1917 births\n1994 deaths\nAssociation football forwards\nPeople from Tutbury",
"Boris Kotoff (born c. 1928) is a former Canadian football player who played for the Ottawa Rough Riders. He previously played football in Hamilton, Ontario.\n\nKotoff was a fullback who played three years for Ottawa from 1954 to 1957. Kotoff was probably at training camp with Ottawa in 1957, but did not play in any regular season games. In 1958, Kotoff was in the Montreal training camp, but again did not play any regular season games. He ran for 132 yards in his career on 31 attempts, scoring 1 rushing touchdown. He also caught 7 passes for 106 yards.\n\nReferences\n\nPossibly living people\n1920s births\nPlayers of Canadian football from Ontario\nCanadian football running backs\nOttawa Rough Riders players\nSportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario"
]
|
[
"Charlie Ward",
"Professional career",
"what did charlie do?",
"he began his career in the NBA as a point guard.",
"who did he play for?",
"the New York Knicks,"
]
| C_ff1bedbe27af43319a97ec0e1b06638f_0 | who was his manager? | 3 | who was Charlie Ward's manager? | Charlie Ward | Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Because teams did not want to waste a first-round pick on a player that might eventually choose the NBA, and because of his smaller stature, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Instead of pursuing a career as a football player in the NFL, and having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. To this day, Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA. Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004-05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired. During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position. Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court. Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs. CANNOTANSWER | head coach Pat Riley, | Charlie Ward, Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quarterbacking the Florida State Seminoles. Despite his college football success, he was famously not drafted to the NFL, opting instead to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ward played for nine years with the New York Knicks and started in the 1999 NBA Finals. He later had short spells with the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, before retiring in 2005. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
College football
Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for The Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. The Seminoles had suffered their only defeat of the season to a second-ranked Notre Dame team, but their path to the National Championship was cleared a week later when the Irish were upset at home by Boston College. Ward holds the fourth-largest margin of victory in the history of Heisman trophy balloting, with a 1,622-point difference, fourth only to Joe Burrow's 1,846 point win in 2019, O. J. Simpson's 1,750-point win in 1968 and Troy Smith's 1,662-point win in 2006. He was also the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA. In 1993, Charlie Ward won the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
College basketball
Ward also played basketball for four years at The Florida State University (FSU). Former teammates included future NBA players Bob Sura, Doug Edwards, and Sam Cassell. His 1993 team made it to the Southeast Regional Final where they lost to Kentucky 106–81 with the winner advancing to the Final Four. Ward's 1992 team made the Sweet Sixteen. He made the game-winning shot in its Metro Conference Tournament Championship game win over Louisville in 1991. Ward still holds FSU basketball records for career steals at 236 and steals in one game at 9, and ranks sixth all-time in assists at 396. He played a shortened season his senior year, joining the basketball team just 15 days after winning the Heisman Trophy. He started 16 games at the point guard position that year, and averaged a college career high of 10.5 points and 4.9 assists for the season.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1990–91
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 30 || – || 23.8 || .455 || .313 || .713 || 3.0|| 3.4 || 2.4 || .3 || 8.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1991–92
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 28 || 22 || 30.0 || .497 || .458 || .530 || 3.2 || 4.4 || 2.7 || .2 || 7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1992–93
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 17 || 14 || 32.8 || .462 || .320 || .667 || 2.6 || 5.5 || 2.8 || .3 || 7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 16 || 16 || 35.9 || .365 || .253 || .625 || 3.9 || 4.9 || 2.8 || .1 || 10.5
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 91 || 52 || 29.5 || .441 || .323 || .636 || 3.1 || 4.4 || 2.6 || .2 || 8.1
Professional career
Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Due to his smaller stature and uncertainty about whether he would play in the NBA, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA.
Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004–05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired.
During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position.
Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court.
Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs.
Controversy
In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat, with the Knicks holding a 3–1 series lead, Ward tried to box out P. J. Brown. When he tried to get inside after the free throw shot, Brown became frustrated, then retaliated by lifting Ward up and body-slamming him. This caused a bench-clearing brawl to ensue. After Miami won the game 96–81, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Ward himself, were suspended by the NBA. Ewing, Houston, Johnson, and Starks left the bench during the brawl, which was mandatory cause for suspension according to NBA rules. Brown was suspended for the rest of the series; Ewing, Ward and Houston were suspended for Game 6, and Johnson and Starks were suspended for Game 7. Due to the suspensions, the Knicks were shorthanded and lost Games 6 and 7 to Miami 95–90 and 101–90, respectively, failing to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami would go on to lose to the Chicago Bulls in five games.
In 2001, while playing for the Knicks, it was discovered that Ward had made disparaging comments about Jews during a Bible-study session, comments that were eventually leaked to the press. Among the comments made: "Jews are stubborn...tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless He knew something they didn't want to accept...They had His blood on their hands."
There was outrage directed at Ward from Jewish groups, the public, as well as the Knicks organization itself. Ward defended himself by saying "I didn't mean to offend any one group because that's not what I'm about. I have friends that are Jewish. Actually, my friend is a Jewish guy, and his name is Jesus Christ." He also said the quotes were taken out of context, as he stated that "Jews are stubborn" in speaking to what he perceived to be their disinclination to convert to Christianity.
Ward eventually apologized for those statements, with his apology being accepted by the Anti-Defamation League.
Career statistics
NBA
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||0 ||4.4 ||.211 ||.100 ||.700 ||0.6 ||0.4 ||0.2 ||0 ||1.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|62 ||1 ||12.7 ||.399 ||.333 ||.685 ||1.6 ||2.1 ||0.9 ||0.1 ||3.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|79 ||21 ||22.3 ||.395 ||.312 ||.76 ||2.8 ||4.1 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|82 ||82 ||28.3 ||.455 ||.377 ||.805 ||3.3 ||5.7 ||1.8 ||0.5 ||7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|50 ||50 ||31.1 ||.404 ||.356 ||.705 ||3.4 ||5.4 ||2.1 ||0.2 ||7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|72 ||69 ||27.6 ||.423 ||.386 ||.828 ||3.2 ||4.2 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||7.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|61 ||33 ||24.5 ||.416 ||.383 ||.800 ||2.6 ||4.5 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||7.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|63 ||0 ||16.8 ||.373 ||.323 ||.810 ||2.0 ||3.2 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|66 ||6 ||22.2 ||.399 ||.378 ||.774 ||2.7 ||4.6 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|35 ||10 ||23.6 ||.442 ||.428 ||.762 ||2.7 ||4.9 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||8.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|36 ||0 ||11.8 ||.346 ||.368 ||.667 ||1.3 ||1.3 ||0.5 ||0.1 ||3.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| Houston
|14 ||13 ||25.7 ||.312 ||.314 ||.846 ||2.8 ||3.1 ||1.1 ||0 ||5.4
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|630 ||285 ||22.3 ||.408 ||.364 ||.771 ||2.6 ||4.0 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||6.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1996
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|7 ||0 ||13.1 ||.481 ||.250 ||.429 ||1.3 ||2.4 ||1.6 ||.0 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1997
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|9 ||0 ||20.2 ||.296 ||.111 ||.750 ||2.8 ||4.3 ||1.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||10 ||26.1 ||.418 ||.429 ||.688 ||2.8 ||6.0 ||2.0 ||0.2 ||6.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|20 ||20 ||24.7 ||.366 ||.321 ||.750 ||2.3 ||3.8 ||1.8 ||0.2 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2000
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|16 ||16 ||27.4 ||.504 ||.396 ||.714 ||4.3 ||4.1 ||1.4 ||0.3 ||9.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|5 ||0 ||17.2 ||.296 ||.250 ||1.000 ||1.4 ||1.4 ||0.4 ||.0 ||5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2004
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|5 ||0 ||2.6 ||.667 ||1.000 ||– ||.0 ||0.2 ||0.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|72 ||46 ||21.8 ||.422||.349||0.710||2.5||3.7||1.5'||0.1||5.5
Personal life
Ward is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He and his wife Tonja have three children: Caleb, Hope, and Joshua (Trashaun) In June 2007, Ward was hired as an assistant coach for the varsity boys basketball team by Westbury Christian School in Houston, Texas, having passed on many professional sports opportunities. He was previously an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets. In addition, in November 2007, he accepted the job as head coach for the varsity football team at Westbury Christian School, stating that his desire is to help prepare young minds for Christ. In February 2014, it was announced that Ward accepted the head coaching position at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, where his son Caleb would be attending and playing football. As of March 8, 2018, Charlie is the Ambassador of Football for Florida State University. In March 2018, Ward became the head Boys' Basketball coach for Florida State University Schools (FSUS or Florida High) in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently Florida High's Boys Basketball program has improved since Ward's arrival. Charlie is also the host of a web series, Chalk Talk with Charlie Ward, where he discusses his thoughts on Florida State Seminole Football.
In June 2018, while on a church mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, Ward suffered a stroke. He has since made a full recovery. Ward switched to a vegan diet and began a more consistent workout regimen to improve his health and prevent another stroke in the future.
Acting career
Charlie Ward made his acting debut on the Netflix comedy series Family Reunion episode "Remember M'dear's Fifteen Minutes?" playing himself in 2020.
References
External links
1970 births
Living people
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
African-American Christians
African-American coaches of American football
African-American players of American football
All-American college football players
American football punters
American football quarterbacks
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Florida State Seminoles football players
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players
Heisman Trophy winners
High school basketball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Texas
Houston Rockets assistant coaches
Houston Rockets players
James E. Sullivan Award recipients
New York Knicks draft picks
New York Knicks players
People from Thomasville, Georgia
Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)
Point guards
San Antonio Spurs players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople | true | [
"Gordon Young is a Scottish football manager who is assistant manager of Cove Rangers.\n\nCareer\n\nYoung started his managerial career as youth manager of Scottish top flight side Motherwell. In 2010, he was appointed manager of Motherwell. In 2013, he was appointed youth manager of Sheffield United in the English third division. In 2016, Young was appointed manager of Scottish top flight club Dundee United. After that, he was appointed assistant manager of East Fife in the Scottish third division.\n\nIn 2017, he was appointed manager of American youth team Impact Soccer Club. In 2018, Young was appointed assistant manager of Falkirk in the Scottish second divsion. After that, he was appointed assistant manager of Latvia. After that, he was appointed manager of Latvian outfit Liepāja. In 2019, Young was appointed assistant manager of Cove Rangers in the Scottish fourth division.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nScottish football managers\nLiving people\nExpatriate football managers in Latvia\nExpatriate football managers in England\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"Dean Mark Wilkins (born 12 July 1962) is an English football coach and former professional player. He was most recently the assistant manager of League Two club Stevenage.\n\nManagerial career\nWilkins assumed the position of caretaker manager at Brighton & Hove Albion when Mark McGhee was sacked in early September 2006. Later that month, it was announced that Wilkins had been given the job on a permanent basis. On 3 April, Wilkins was offered a three-year contract with Brighton & Hove Albion, which was agreed on 24 April.\n\nOn 31 July 2009, Wilkins was named as Alan Pardew's assistant manager at Southampton. On 30 August 2010, Wilkins was appointed caretaker manager at Southampton after manager Alan Pardew was sacked, until 12 September when Nigel Adkins was appointed. He was dismissed, along with Adkins, on 18 January 2013.\n\nFollowing his departure from Southampton, Wilkins was a member of the coaching staff for Reading, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. \n\nWilkins was appointed as assistant manager at Stevenage on 18 December 2020, who were in 23rd position in League Two at the time of his appointment. The move meant that Wilkins would be assisting manager Alex Revell, who he had managed during his time as manager at Brighton. He stated the position particularly appealed to him as he was looking to help a first-time manager. Under his leadership Wilkins was able to help Stevenage climb the league table and finish in 14th place. After winning their first two league matches to start the 2021-2022 season Stevenage would only win one game in their next 14, culminating in the departure of manager Alex Revell and assistant manager Dean Wilkins on November 14, 2021.\n\nCareer statistics\n\nManagerial statistics \n\n*Caretaker manager\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nDean Wilkins profile at ELFvoetbal.nl \n\n1962 births\nLiving people\nFootballers from Hillingdon\nEnglish footballers\nEnglish expatriate footballers\nAssociation football midfielders\nQueens Park Rangers F.C. players\nMyllykosken Pallo −47 players\nBrighton & Hove Albion F.C. players\nLeyton Orient F.C. players\nPEC Zwolle players\nEnglish Football League players\nEredivisie players\nExpatriate footballers in Finland\nExpatriate footballers in the Netherlands\nEnglish football managers\nBrighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers\nSheffield United F.C. non-playing staff \nSouthampton F.C. managers\nSouthampton F.C. non-playing staff\nStevenage F.C. non-playing staff \nReading F.C. non-playing staff\nCrystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff \nDean"
]
|
[
"Charlie Ward",
"Professional career",
"what did charlie do?",
"he began his career in the NBA as a point guard.",
"who did he play for?",
"the New York Knicks,",
"who was his manager?",
"head coach Pat Riley,"
]
| C_ff1bedbe27af43319a97ec0e1b06638f_0 | who were his teammates? | 4 | who were Charlie Ward's teammates? | Charlie Ward | Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Because teams did not want to waste a first-round pick on a player that might eventually choose the NBA, and because of his smaller stature, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Instead of pursuing a career as a football player in the NFL, and having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. To this day, Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA. Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004-05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired. During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position. Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court. Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs. CANNOTANSWER | point guard Derek Harper. | Charlie Ward, Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quarterbacking the Florida State Seminoles. Despite his college football success, he was famously not drafted to the NFL, opting instead to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ward played for nine years with the New York Knicks and started in the 1999 NBA Finals. He later had short spells with the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, before retiring in 2005. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
College football
Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for The Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. The Seminoles had suffered their only defeat of the season to a second-ranked Notre Dame team, but their path to the National Championship was cleared a week later when the Irish were upset at home by Boston College. Ward holds the fourth-largest margin of victory in the history of Heisman trophy balloting, with a 1,622-point difference, fourth only to Joe Burrow's 1,846 point win in 2019, O. J. Simpson's 1,750-point win in 1968 and Troy Smith's 1,662-point win in 2006. He was also the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA. In 1993, Charlie Ward won the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
College basketball
Ward also played basketball for four years at The Florida State University (FSU). Former teammates included future NBA players Bob Sura, Doug Edwards, and Sam Cassell. His 1993 team made it to the Southeast Regional Final where they lost to Kentucky 106–81 with the winner advancing to the Final Four. Ward's 1992 team made the Sweet Sixteen. He made the game-winning shot in its Metro Conference Tournament Championship game win over Louisville in 1991. Ward still holds FSU basketball records for career steals at 236 and steals in one game at 9, and ranks sixth all-time in assists at 396. He played a shortened season his senior year, joining the basketball team just 15 days after winning the Heisman Trophy. He started 16 games at the point guard position that year, and averaged a college career high of 10.5 points and 4.9 assists for the season.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1990–91
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 30 || – || 23.8 || .455 || .313 || .713 || 3.0|| 3.4 || 2.4 || .3 || 8.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1991–92
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 28 || 22 || 30.0 || .497 || .458 || .530 || 3.2 || 4.4 || 2.7 || .2 || 7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1992–93
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 17 || 14 || 32.8 || .462 || .320 || .667 || 2.6 || 5.5 || 2.8 || .3 || 7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1993–94
| style="text-align:left;"| Florida State
| 16 || 16 || 35.9 || .365 || .253 || .625 || 3.9 || 4.9 || 2.8 || .1 || 10.5
|-
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 91 || 52 || 29.5 || .441 || .323 || .636 || 3.1 || 4.4 || 2.6 || .2 || 8.1
Professional career
Upon graduation, Ward stated he was undecided about professional basketball or football and made it clear that he would not consider playing in the NFL unless selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft. Ward proclaimed that he "deserved to" be a first-rounder. Ward's mother reported that the family was told he "was probably a third- to fifth-round pick." Due to his smaller stature and uncertainty about whether he would play in the NBA, Ward was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Having been chosen in the 1st round (26th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, he began his career in the NBA as a point guard. An inquiry was made during Ward's rookie year with the Knicks for him to become the backup quarterback for Joe Montana of the Kansas City Chiefs, but Ward declined. Ward is the only Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NBA.
Ward played sparingly in his rookie year under head coach Pat Riley, but the Knicks organization referred to him as "the point guard of the future." When assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy took over the head coaching position, Ward's time on the floor began to increase, becoming the primary backup for point guard Derek Harper. He became a fan favorite in New York for his hard work ethic and unselfish play. During his NBA career, Ward established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. Ward was selected to participate in the 1998 NBA All-Star three-point competition, finishing fourth in the event. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. Ward was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2004 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Stephon Marbury to the Knicks and was promptly cut by the Suns for salary purposes. Ward spent the remainder of the season with the Spurs and signed a contract with the Houston Rockets the following summer. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004–05 season. Because of his injuries Ward retired.
During his time with the Knicks, Ward was often called the "best quarterback in New York" due to the struggles that the New York Jets and New York Giants had at the position.
Off the court, Ward became known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2011, at the NCAA Final Four, Ward received the John Wooden Keys to Life award given for continued excellence and integrity on and off the court.
Ward established The aWard Foundation to enhance the lives of young people through sports based mentoring and educational programs.
Controversy
In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat, with the Knicks holding a 3–1 series lead, Ward tried to box out P. J. Brown. When he tried to get inside after the free throw shot, Brown became frustrated, then retaliated by lifting Ward up and body-slamming him. This caused a bench-clearing brawl to ensue. After Miami won the game 96–81, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Ward himself, were suspended by the NBA. Ewing, Houston, Johnson, and Starks left the bench during the brawl, which was mandatory cause for suspension according to NBA rules. Brown was suspended for the rest of the series; Ewing, Ward and Houston were suspended for Game 6, and Johnson and Starks were suspended for Game 7. Due to the suspensions, the Knicks were shorthanded and lost Games 6 and 7 to Miami 95–90 and 101–90, respectively, failing to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami would go on to lose to the Chicago Bulls in five games.
In 2001, while playing for the Knicks, it was discovered that Ward had made disparaging comments about Jews during a Bible-study session, comments that were eventually leaked to the press. Among the comments made: "Jews are stubborn...tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless He knew something they didn't want to accept...They had His blood on their hands."
There was outrage directed at Ward from Jewish groups, the public, as well as the Knicks organization itself. Ward defended himself by saying "I didn't mean to offend any one group because that's not what I'm about. I have friends that are Jewish. Actually, my friend is a Jewish guy, and his name is Jesus Christ." He also said the quotes were taken out of context, as he stated that "Jews are stubborn" in speaking to what he perceived to be their disinclination to convert to Christianity.
Ward eventually apologized for those statements, with his apology being accepted by the Anti-Defamation League.
Career statistics
NBA
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||0 ||4.4 ||.211 ||.100 ||.700 ||0.6 ||0.4 ||0.2 ||0 ||1.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|62 ||1 ||12.7 ||.399 ||.333 ||.685 ||1.6 ||2.1 ||0.9 ||0.1 ||3.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|79 ||21 ||22.3 ||.395 ||.312 ||.76 ||2.8 ||4.1 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|82 ||82 ||28.3 ||.455 ||.377 ||.805 ||3.3 ||5.7 ||1.8 ||0.5 ||7.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|50 ||50 ||31.1 ||.404 ||.356 ||.705 ||3.4 ||5.4 ||2.1 ||0.2 ||7.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|72 ||69 ||27.6 ||.423 ||.386 ||.828 ||3.2 ||4.2 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||7.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|61 ||33 ||24.5 ||.416 ||.383 ||.800 ||2.6 ||4.5 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||7.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|63 ||0 ||16.8 ||.373 ||.323 ||.810 ||2.0 ||3.2 ||1.1 ||0.2 ||5.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|66 ||6 ||22.2 ||.399 ||.378 ||.774 ||2.7 ||4.6 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||7.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|35 ||10 ||23.6 ||.442 ||.428 ||.762 ||2.7 ||4.9 ||1.3 ||0.2 ||8.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|36 ||0 ||11.8 ||.346 ||.368 ||.667 ||1.3 ||1.3 ||0.5 ||0.1 ||3.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align;left;"| Houston
|14 ||13 ||25.7 ||.312 ||.314 ||.846 ||2.8 ||3.1 ||1.1 ||0 ||5.4
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|630 ||285 ||22.3 ||.408 ||.364 ||.771 ||2.6 ||4.0 ||1.2 ||0.2 ||6.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1996
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|7 ||0 ||13.1 ||.481 ||.250 ||.429 ||1.3 ||2.4 ||1.6 ||.0 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1997
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|9 ||0 ||20.2 ||.296 ||.111 ||.750 ||2.8 ||4.3 ||1.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|10 ||10 ||26.1 ||.418 ||.429 ||.688 ||2.8 ||6.0 ||2.0 ||0.2 ||6.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|20 ||20 ||24.7 ||.366 ||.321 ||.750 ||2.3 ||3.8 ||1.8 ||0.2 ||4.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2000
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|16 ||16 ||27.4 ||.504 ||.396 ||.714 ||4.3 ||4.1 ||1.4 ||0.3 ||9.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001
| style="text-align;left;"| New York
|5 ||0 ||17.2 ||.296 ||.250 ||1.000 ||1.4 ||1.4 ||0.4 ||.0 ||5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2004
| style="text-align;left;"| San Antonio
|5 ||0 ||2.6 ||.667 ||1.000 ||– ||.0 ||0.2 ||0.4 ||.0 ||2.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|72 ||46 ||21.8 ||.422||.349||0.710||2.5||3.7||1.5'||0.1||5.5
Personal life
Ward is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He and his wife Tonja have three children: Caleb, Hope, and Joshua (Trashaun) In June 2007, Ward was hired as an assistant coach for the varsity boys basketball team by Westbury Christian School in Houston, Texas, having passed on many professional sports opportunities. He was previously an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets. In addition, in November 2007, he accepted the job as head coach for the varsity football team at Westbury Christian School, stating that his desire is to help prepare young minds for Christ. In February 2014, it was announced that Ward accepted the head coaching position at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, where his son Caleb would be attending and playing football. As of March 8, 2018, Charlie is the Ambassador of Football for Florida State University. In March 2018, Ward became the head Boys' Basketball coach for Florida State University Schools (FSUS or Florida High) in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently Florida High's Boys Basketball program has improved since Ward's arrival. Charlie is also the host of a web series, Chalk Talk with Charlie Ward, where he discusses his thoughts on Florida State Seminole Football.
In June 2018, while on a church mission trip to Ensenada, Mexico, Ward suffered a stroke. He has since made a full recovery. Ward switched to a vegan diet and began a more consistent workout regimen to improve his health and prevent another stroke in the future.
Acting career
Charlie Ward made his acting debut on the Netflix comedy series Family Reunion episode "Remember M'dear's Fifteen Minutes?" playing himself in 2020.
References
External links
1970 births
Living people
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
African-American Christians
African-American coaches of American football
African-American players of American football
All-American college football players
American football punters
American football quarterbacks
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Florida State Seminoles football players
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players
Heisman Trophy winners
High school basketball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Texas
Houston Rockets assistant coaches
Houston Rockets players
James E. Sullivan Award recipients
New York Knicks draft picks
New York Knicks players
People from Thomasville, Georgia
Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)
Point guards
San Antonio Spurs players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople | true | [
"The ICC AllStars was an early integrated professional basketball team of the barnstorming era led by David DeJernett. In 1935 DeJernett finished his fourth year of eligibility at Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and started a pro career with former teammates from Indiana Central as well as Washington (IN) High School. The ICC All-Stars also featured Burl Friddle, a Franklin Wonder Fiver and Twenties pro who had coached DeJernett in high school.\n\nRounding out the ICC AllStars were guards Billy Schaeffer and Harry Spurgeon, both native Hoosiers from Southern Indiana who had played at Indiana Central, and forwards Jack \"Red\" Heavenridge, Eugene Gilmore, and Paul Gross. In the 1930s seven-man professional touring squads of former amateur teammates were not uncommon; the New York Renaissance club, for example, was known as the \"Magnificent Seven\" and included several players who'd been schoolboy teammates in Philadelphia. Similarly, the Harlem Globetrotters originated amongst teammates at Wendell St Phillips High School in Chicago. Instead of an all-white or all-black team, however, the ICC AllStars played integrated basketball ahead of the other pro clubs. The NBL's Buffalo Bisons followed suit the next season when Hank Williams joined their starting lineup.\n\nThe ICC AllStars' most prominent win was a 40–35 victory over the Jasper Coca-Colas, champions of the Louisville-based Major Falls Cities League, in late March 1935, behind DeJernett's 18 points. The Cokes, featuring Purdue captain Ray Eddy, Indiana University stars Woody Weir and Vic Dauer, and Akron Firestone veteran Tom Rea, had defeated the AllStars 33–31 in an earlier match and the next year beat the powerful New York Rens 57–53.\n\nReferences\n\nBasketball teams in Indiana",
"Eric Mackenzie Robertson (12 September 1892 – 28 July 1975) was a Newfoundland marathoner, who competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium for Great Britain. He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland.\n\nAfter the war he settled in London. While working in a clothing store some of his co-workers were members of the Polytechnic Harriers, and through them he developed his love of running. In 1920, he travelled to Antwerp to cheer on his teammates from the Harriers, who were members of the British team. However, the British team was short one person and his teammates convinced their coach to let Robertson run in the marathon. His inexperience showed as he finished in last place, 35 minutes behind the second to last place finisher.\n\nReferences\n\n1892 births\n1975 deaths\nNewfoundland Colony people\nNewfoundland military personnel of World War I\nOlympic athletes of Great Britain\nBritish male long-distance runners\nCanadian male long-distance runners\nSportspeople from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador\nAthletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics\nRoyal Newfoundland Regiment soldiers"
]
|
[
"Art Bell",
"Critical reputation"
]
| C_86006828a515445586309c48bcce4eab_0 | What did critics think of Bell's show? | 1 | What did critics think of Art Bell's show? | Art Bell | Fans regard Bell as a master showman, noting that he calls his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly says he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims but only offers a forum where they will not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006 edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use unscreened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future." He subsequently stopped screening calls upon his return to the United States. His calm attitude, patient questions, and ability to tease substance from nebulous statements of callers and guests gave his show a relaxed yet serious atmosphere. This earned him praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow have all been regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests, particularly Hoagland, continue to be regular guests on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory. Bell's own interests, however, extend beyond the paranormal. He has interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch. Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," and accordingly natural rather than artificial. CANNOTANSWER | Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. | Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly.
In 2003, Bell semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM. During the following four years, he hosted the show for many weekends on Premiere Networks. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting in 2007, but occasionally served as a guest host through to 2010. Classic episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some radio markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time hosted by Bell. He started a new nightly show, Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio, that aired for six weeks in 2013.
In 2015, he returned to radio with a new show Midnight in the Desert, which was available online via TuneIn as well as some terrestrial radio stations. He announced what would be his final retirement on December 11, 2015, citing security concerns at his home. He said that he and his family were subjected to repeated intrusions on his property in Pahrump, Nevada. The intrusions included gunshots, and he was in fear for his family's safety. He chose to leave the air and along with it public life because he believed that the intruder or intruders wanted him off the air.
Bell was the founder and original owner of Pahrump-based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. His broadcast studio and transmitter were located near his home in Pahrump, where he also hosted Coast to Coast AM.
Early life
Arthur William Bell III was born in North Carolina on June 17, 1945. Sources differ on whether he was born in Jacksonville or Camp Lejeune. He had a Lutheran background.
Bell was always interested in radio; at the age of 13, he became a licensed amateur radio operator. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is in the top U.S. Federal Communications Commission license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell served in the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War and in his free time operated a pirate radio station at Amarillo Air Force Base. He would make a point of playing anti-war music (like "Eve of Destruction" and "Fortunate Son") that was not aired on the American Forces Network.
After leaving military service, he remained in Asia, where he lived on the Japanese island of Okinawa. He worked as a disc jockey for KSBK, which was the only non-military English-language station in Japan. While there, he set a Guinness World Record by staying on the air for 116 hours and 15 minutes. The money raised there allowed Bell to charter a Douglas DC-8, fly to Vietnam, and rescue 130 Vietnamese orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually brought to the United States and adopted by American families.
Bell returned to the United States and studied engineering at the University of Maryland. He dropped out and returned to radio as a board operator and chief engineer, and had the opportunity to be on the air a few times. For several years, he worked behind and in front of the microphone. After a period of working in cable television, in 1986 the 50,000-watt KDWN in Las Vegas, Nevada, offered Bell a five-hour time slot in the middle of the night. Syndication of his program to other radio stations began in 1993.
Broadcasting career
Bell was a rock music disc jockey before he moved into talk radio. His original 1978 late-night Las Vegas program on KDWN was a political call-in show under the name West Coast AM. In 1988, Bell and Alan Corberth renamed the show Coast to Coast AM and moved its broadcast from the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas to Bell's home in Pahrump.
Bell abandoned conventional political talk in favor of topics such as gun control and conspiracy theories, leading to a significant bump in his overnight ratings. The show's focus again shifted significantly after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Many in the media did not want to be blamed for inciting anti-government or militia actions like the bombing. Subsequently, Bell discussed off-beat topics such as the paranormal, the occult, UFOs, protoscience and pseudoscience. During his tenure at KDWN Bell met and married his third wife, Ramona, who later handled production and management duties for the program.
An article in the February 23, 1997, edition of The Washington Post said that Bell was currently America's highest-rated late-night radio talk show host, broadcast on 328 stations. According to The Oregonian in its June 22, 1997, edition, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell was on 460 stations. At its initial peak in popularity, Coast to Coast AM was syndicated on more than 500 radio stations and claimed 15 million listeners nightly. Bell's studios were located in his home in the town of Pahrump, located in Nye County, Nevada; hence, the voice-over catchphrase, "from the Kingdom of Nye".
Critical reputation
Fans regarded Bell as a master showman, noting that he called his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly said he did not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims, but only offered a forum where they would not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006, edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call-screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use un-screened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future."
Bell has earned praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow were all regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests continue to appear on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory.
Bell's own interests, however, extended beyond the paranormal. He interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch.
Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale–Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. Some speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," (20 miles) and accordingly natural rather than artificial.
Callers and guests
On August 15, 1996, Bell interviewed William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries, in which Pierce—writing under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"—depicted a race war leading to the extermination of Jews, non-whites and gay people. Pierce denounced interracial marriage, calling white people who married non-whites "traitors to the white race"—apparently unaware that Bell himself was in an interracial marriage, as his then-wife, Ramona Bell, was an Asian-American of Filipino descent (his wife Airyn whom he married after Ramona's death was also Filipino).
One of Bell's Coast to Coast interviews occurred in 1997 with Mel Waters who discussed what is known as "Mel's Hole" in rural Washington State. The opening is said to be a fantastically deep vertical shaft which possesses bizarre properties. No such hole has ever been physically located by anyone attempting to verify this story.
A caller in 2000 named "Daniel Murray" claimed he was a Majestic Agent from Downey, California.
This call served as the inspiration for the alternate reality game Majestic.
A caller in September 1997 claimed he had discovered an unknown threat and conspiracy from Area 51, and his life was in danger by even talking about it. For unknown reasons, Bell lost connection to his transmitter during the call and, just as the caller's voice became more and more agitated, the entire broadcast dramatically went silent. A confused Bell restored the signal about 20 minutes later. The caller (or someone sounding similar) called in on a subsequent show and admitted it had been an elaborate hoax, which fooled many. Audio from the call was used in the Tool song "Faaip De Oiad," on the album Lateralus.
Amateur radio
Bell became a licensed amateur radio operator at the age of 13. His first call sign was KN3JOX, first listed in the Winter 1959 edition of the Radio Amateur Callbook. He soon upgraded to K3JOX, and he later held W2CKS, first listed in the Spring 1967 Callbook. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is the highest U.S. Federal Communications Commission amateur license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell passed the Philippines amateur radio exams and became a Philippine Class A amateur radio operator with the call sign of 4F1AB. While in the Philippines, Bell was active on 40-10 Meters, as well as 144.600 MHz simplex in Manila.
Honors
In 1998, Bell was named as recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Council for Media Integrity. Bell was recognized by the Council for "perpetuating conspiracy myths... and mystery mongering". When Bell learned of the award he replied "A mind should not be so open that the brains fall out, however it should not be so closed that whatever gray matter which does reside may not be reached. On behalf of those with the smallest remaining open aperture, I accept with honor."
In August 2006 Art was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He did not attend the presentation.
On March 10, 2007, Bell would be honored with the News/Talk Radio Lifetime Achievement Award from the trade publication Radio & Records in Los Angeles.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Marriages
Airyn Ruiz, April 11, 2006 – April 13, 2018 (his death). Children: Asia Rayne Bell and Alexander William Bell.
Ramona Lee Hayes, August 4, 1991 – January 5, 2006 (her death) † (see below)
Vickie L. Baker, married March 1, 1981, divorced, July 3, 1991. Children: Arthur William Bell IV
Sachiko Toguchi Bell Pontius, married 1965, divorced 1968. Children: Vincent Pontius, Lisa Pontius Minei.
Retirements and comebacks
Bell retired and returned to Coast to Coast AM several times.
On October 13, 1998, Bell announced his first retirement, which was highly unexpected by his listeners. He spoke of "an event, a threatening terrible event occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about. Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air." Hilly Rose filled in after Bell's departure. Bell returned on October 28, 1998, asserting that the brief departure was brought on by threats made against his family. On May 29, 1999, Bell explained that this retirement was due to an allegation made by hosts of WWCR shortwave radio that Bell had paid to cover up a criminal indictment. The facts of the matter became public knowledge in 2000, when the media revealed that an actual criminal indictment was filed against a person who had assaulted a member of Bell's family. Because of the nature of the crime, Bell had wanted to keep the matter private. Ted Gunderson, the former head of the Los Angeles FBI and the hosts at WWCR shortwave radio had accused Bell of the crime. Bell responded by taking legal action against Gunderson, as well as the hosts and stations. The action was resolved in a settlement in 2000.
On April 1, 2000, Bell again announced his retirement. He said that the event would occur on April 26, 2000, but offered no details other than expressing intentions to "resolve a family crisis." On April 11, 2000, Mike Siegel was introduced as the new host of Coast to Coast AM, taking over on April 27, to an estimated audience of 22 million listeners. The media later explained that Bell had left to deal with the aftermath of the kidnap and sexual assault of his son. Brian Lepley, a substitute teacher, was convicted of sexual assault and attempted transmission of HIV and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years. Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM in February 2001. Bell noted that since his departure the show had lost a number of affiliates, commercial content had risen to an unbearable level, and Siegel had taken the program in a "different direction" of which Bell disapproved. Bell retained some authority over the program as its creator and felt his return was necessary.
On October 23, 2002, Bell announced that he would retire due to recurring back pain, which was the result of a fall from a telephone pole during his youth. Bell was replaced by George Noory as weekday host of Coast to Coast AM on January 1, 2003. Those close to the matter also said that Barbara Simpson would host weekends and that Bell planned to be an occasional guest host for Noory. Bell returned in September 2003 as a weekend host, replacing Barbara Simpson and Ian Punnett as host of the Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. In June 2005, he scaled this schedule back, calling it a "semiretirement," and hosted only the last two Sundays of every month. Bell went back to hosting every weekend show as his schedule permitted after his wife Ramona's death a few months later.
On July 1, 2007, Bell announced his retirement, stating that he wished to spend more time with his new wife and daughter. He made it explicitly clear that, unlike the circumstances surrounding previous retirements, this decision was an entirely positive and joyful one and that he would not disappear completely, announcing an intention to occasionally substitute for other hosts and host "special" shows.
On December 11, 2015, Bell posted what would be his final retirement message via his Facebook page. He cited safety concerns for his family by saying "if one of them were harmed because of what I love doing my life would be over." Throughout the fall, Bell reported several incidents where an unknown number of armed trespassers came onto his property, sometimes firing gunshots. These events have been said to occur during or around the time of his broadcasting. This announcement came a mere five months after the start of his most recent show, Midnight in the Desert.
Events of 2006
Bell's life took some dramatic twists in the beginning of 2006:
Death of Ramona Bell
On January 5, 2006, Ramona Bell, his wife of 15 years, died unexpectedly at the age of 47 of what appeared to be an acute asthma attack in Laughlin, Nevada, where the couple had been taking a short vacation.
During the January 22 broadcast of Coast to Coast AM, Bell described in great detail the events surrounding his wife's death. For weeks thereafter, callers to the station would speak to George Noory and express their sadness and sympathy for Bell; Noory had taken Bell's place on weekdays beginning in 2002.
Change in schedule
On January 21, 2006, 16 days after the unexpected death of his wife Ramona, Bell announced he would host Coast to Coast AM every Saturday and Sunday evening, and that former weekend host Ian Punnett would work a new live prefeed program for the four hours preceding Bell's slot on Saturday nights (9:00 pm – 1:00 am ET).
New marriage
By the end of January, Bell began hinting that he was making a significant life decision, but that he would keep it a secret for at least one year, asking listeners to remind him in 2007 to let them in on it. By March, he was saying that he would soon take a "huge risk" and "do something rash". On April 15, 2006, he ended the mystery and, to the mild surprise of listeners, revealed that, after several weeks of mourning, he had recently gone to the Philippines and married Airyn Ruiz.
Return to "the High Desert and the Great American Southwest"
Bell opened his December 28, 2006, program by disclosing that he had just relocated back to Pahrump, Nevada, with Ruiz, who had obtained the necessary paperwork for immigrating to the United States.
Events of 2008
On May 29, 2008, Bell sold KNYE to Station Manager Karen Jackson.
On September 8, 2008, Noory stated that he would be hosting the annual Ghost to Ghost AM Halloween call-in show rather than Bell, who normally returns to the Coast to Coast to host it (along with the New Year's prediction shows).
On November 30, 2008, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM. Michio Kaku was the guest. This was the first time Bell had hosted the show since May 23, 2008.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Events of 2009
Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM on February 20, 2009, for a discussion on the global financial crisis with Wall St. insider Michael J. Panzner. Bell and Panzner agreed the United States was headed for an economic depression.
Bell was scheduled to return to Coast to Coast AM on April 24, 2009, to host an evening of open lines, but because of engineering problems in Manila, Bell was rescheduled to a later date.
On May 17, 2009, Bell returned to host Coast to Coast AM live from Manila. His guest was professor Peter Ward. Topics of discussion were mass extinctions, Earth's "self-destructive" phenomena, and life beyond planet Earth. While on the air, Bell answered an email question from a listener who asked why he was in the Philippines again and how long he'd be there. Bell replied that he'd address it on "Friday" and hinted that his move might be permanent.
As of May 20, 2009, the Coast to Coast website listed that Bell would be filling in for George Noory on Friday, May 22, 2009, to interview Bob Koontz. However, Bell did not do that show. The Coast to Coast website, again, cited technical difficulties in Manila and that his interview would be postponed. Bell interviewed Koontz on Saturday, June 6, 2009.
Friday June 26, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Dean Radin. He also commented on the death of Michael Jackson and how he had lived in Pahrump, Nevada, not too far away from where Bell lived.
Friday November 20, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Starfire Tor, psi researcher and experiencer who discussed time shifts and time slips, and other strange occurrences of time. During the first 90 minutes, they were joined by Whitley Strieber, who shared his take on Tor's research.
On Wednesday, December 30, and Thursday, December 31, 2009, Bell once again hosted his annual New Year's predictions special of Coast to Coast, noting that a number of the predictions this year were of an unusual and interesting nature and not mere repeats of many that had come before, though he also took several callers to task for seemingly veiling their obvious political agendas or wishes in the form of predictions, rather than offering up something from their "psychic center," which is what he repeatedly asks for during the prediction show. He also suggested that maybe Coast to Coast AM should institute some sort of prize or acknowledgment for listeners whose predictions are particularly accurate or astute.
Immigration controversy
In late 2008, Bell and his wife filed an I-751 petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of her marriage-based green card process. In early 2009 the USCIS responded that they would need additional evidence to prove that Bell's marriage to a Philippine national and subsequent green card application was in good faith. Bell responded with evidence including their marriage license, their daughter's birth certificate, Bell's last will and testament, bank records, family photos, and Social Security forms. Bell sent the package to the USCIS by return receipt mail, and he subsequently received the return receipt stamped "USCIS RECEIVED JAN-15-09."
On March 10, 2009, Bell and his wife and daughter left Nevada for Manila to deal with some family business including the disposition of a condo they owned. Shortly thereafter, the USCIS denied the application on the grounds that the documentary evidence was never received, and further stipulated that Airyn Bell is not permitted to re-enter the United States, which is why Bell remained in the Philippines. Moreover, since the Bells were out of the country when the application was denied, they were required to start the process all over again.
On his June 6 broadcast, Bell explained the situation and asked his listeners to send emails on his behalf to the White House.
Events of 2010–15
Bell hosted 10 episodes in 2010, 5 short of his publicly announced, contractually specified quota of 15 shows per year. His last hosting gig was his annual Ghost to Ghost show on Halloween night (this was the first show ever wherein Bell used call screeners). At the end of that broadcast, Bell said "When they next call my name we'll come back and we'll do this one more time."
As of December 2010, Bell was no longer listed as a host on the Coast to Coast website; his shows were no longer searchable under his name; and the only references to Bell on the site were of an historical/archival nature. However, the weekly Somewhere in Time with Art Bell broadcasts of classic Bell-hosted episodes (which have aired before the live show on Saturday nights since 2006) were not discontinued.
On December 21, 2010, the "HamCam" on Bell's ham radio website featured an image with the following cryptic wording: "The Wind No Longer Blows, in the End it was Without Direction. Long Live the Hot Air. 30" "-30-" is journalistic shorthand for "end of story."
It was announced in late December 2010 that Ian Punnett would host Bell's annual two-part New Year's Eve prediction shows. Initially, Noory had said that Bell was unable to host them because he would be traveling, but on December 24, 2010, Noory said: "We had asked Art to do his predictions show; he's going to spend time with his family. He's winding down, folks, he's winding down...I don't anticipate he'll do any more shows." On the first of the two nights (December 30, 2010), Punnett made a brief, oblique reference to his having the honor of "picking up [Bell's] fallen mantle." On the January 1, 2011, show, Punnett stated he was "looking forward to doing the follow-up a year from now."
In email interactions with fans who have written in to inquire about Bell's absence, Coast personnel confirmed that Bell had retired. According to Coast webmaster Lex Lonehood: "Art Bell decided he no longer wished to do live C2C shows, and asked that his name be removed from the host listings accordingly. Classics and Somewhere in Time shows will continue as is." Coast producer Lisa Lyon told another fan that Bell "has chosen to retire," but that "Art Bell will always be associated with our show, and he is welcome back to the mic whenever he feels the need."
Despite the above remarks from Punnett, Noory, Lyon, Lonehood and Bell, as of January 6, 2011, an official public statement formally confirming Bell's departure from Coast to Coast AM has yet to be made via press release, website announcement or on-air, by any party with the authority to do so—the show's producers, Premier Radio Networks, Clear Channel Communications, or Bell himself. This lack of information has led to rampant speculation among Bell's fanbase as to the motivations and circumstances behind Bell's sudden absence; whether he had given his last live broadcast; and what—if anything—he might decide to do next.
During a chat on February 8, 2011, events became even more confusing for Bell's fans as George Noory, during a public chat responding to a question regarding Bell, stated that Bell isn't responding to his emails. The questioner, "Coalspeaker," asked "Have you spoken to Art Bell lately? And if so is he and his family doing well?" Noory responded by saying, "No I haven't. Art has decided to retire for good this time. I assume all is well for him and his family. He has gone through many ups and downs. I sent him a very lengthy email a few months ago, and he never responded. Though he normally would." There was no further explanation beyond that point on why Bell did not respond to Mr. Noory's email, although it only led Bell's fanbase to speculate further.
In March 2011 a Facebook profile appeared claiming to be the legitimate page of "Arthur W. Bell III," who posted hints that there would be a "big announcement" at the end of April 2011. After much speculation and debate among fans and friends on that page and various Bell forums, and finally after direct intervention from a verified Bell account, the "Arthur W. Bell III" page was proven to be a hoax, with no "big announcement" imminent.
On July 20, 2011, Bell announced via his Facebook page that he had relocated with his family to Pahrump, Nevada. Subsequent posts indicate Bell and his family initially focusing on resettling his house and making it "fit for human habitation" again, giving no indication about his radio plans, if any (beyond maintaining his HAM activity). However, on July 30, Bell posted the following: "There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day. There are things going on in the background that I will talk about at the proper time. The move was a big one and we need time to adjust."
On August 19, 2011, Bell announced via Facebook "Phrase for the day...Stay tuned!", followed on August 31 by the message "Sorry for so few posts but we are working on this house every day like dogs, much more soon." Some Bell fans voiced speculation that the phrase "stay tuned" may have been meant to indicate Bell's return to broadcasting in some form, but 2011 ended with no such announcement forthcoming, though shortly before Christmas he did report that a malfunctioning fire extinguisher in his radio room caused tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage to his equipment and house.
On August 20, 2012, Bell spoke of his grievances with Premiere Networks, claiming that he would soon tell the full story of the truth of his retirement. "I am just about ready to tell the real story of my so-called 'Retirements'. I have asked Premiere to stop the Saturday broadcasts and thus far they have not done so, as is their legal right. Free speech remains my right. I will soon exercise it."
On November 1, 2012, Bell updated his Facebook status with the following: "I wish my name was no longer associated with what Coast has become!"
Return to radio in 2013
In January 2013, Bell announced on Facebook, "I am now in negotiation for a new Radio show, stay tuned. No promises but the wind may be about to change direction!"
"I guess it is time to end any further speculation that I will return to the air any time soon. I have given (2) very solid offers a lot of thought and have turned them down. My reasons are many, though I am profoundly sad at the current state of the show, both offers would have been direct competition with Coast and anger is the wrong reason to proceed. Also I really do not want to destroy what I built despite its current state. Asia will be in first grade in the Fall and getting up very early, I would be up late and sleeping late, I would not see much of her or Airyn. Life is short and I want to spend what I have left with my Family. I hope my friends understand..."
In June 2013, Bell announced on his Facebook page that his official website, artbell.com, would be relaunching. On July 10, 2013, a red, white, and blue textual representation of a smiley face was displayed on the website. The site's favicon is a picture of a grey alien. On July 11, 2013, the smiley face was replaced with a red, white, and blue Morse code script that translated to "Wanna take a ride?".
On July 29, 2013, Bell officially announced a return to the airwaves with a launch date of September 16, 2013. His new show Art Bell's Dark Matter was broadcast on SiriusXM satellite radio's Indie Talk channel (channel #104), Monday through Thursday from 7 PM to 11 PM PT with repeats during the remainder of the night and "best of" shows airing on Fridays. His official website was updated on that date to include the announcement.
On November 4, 2013, Bell left Dark Matter after only six weeks.
On November 7, 2013, Bell announced and began testing for potential Internet streaming sources.
Midnight in the Desert radio show
On July 20, 2015, Bell returned with his new show Midnight in the Desert. The show aired on the internet Dark Matter Digital network and on 45 stations (20 of which signed on before the show started) from 9 PM to midnight PT. He also started transmitting on shortwave radio on WTWW at 5.085 MHz as well.
On December 11, 2015, Bell announced that he had permanently stepped down as host of Midnight in the Desert due to concerns about his family's safety. Bell had reported multiple instances of someone shooting firearms at and near his property in the fall of 2015. The show Midnight in the Desert continued with new host Heather Wade, and shortly after Art's death Dave Schrader became the host. Bell made the occasional guest host appearance.
Death
Art Bell died April 13, 2018, at age 72 at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. An autopsy was scheduled for the following days to determine the cause of his death. He had suffered from health problems in the previous years. He posted on his website in July 2016 that he was hospitalized for pneumonia and revealed at the time that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On August 1, 2018, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the Clark County coroner's office findings. The coroner's office stated that Bell died of an accidental overdose from a cocktail of prescription drugs. The coroner's office determined he had four prescription medications in his system: the opioids oxycodone or Roxicet and hydrocodone or Vicodin, diazepam or Valium, and carisoprodol or Soma, a muscle-relaxant. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension also contributed to his death.
George Noory, current host of Coast To Coast AM, announced Bell's death and while struggling to keep his composure stated, "Art and I were not that close. We had our differences, but he was one of those instrumental in me being where I am right now."
Books
Bell wrote, or co-wrote, several books, including The Quickening: Today's Trends, Tomorrow's World; The Art of Talk (an autobiography); The Source: Journey Through the Unexplained; The Edge: Man's Mysterious Past & Incredible Future; and The Coming Global Superstorm (co-authored with Whitley Streiber), which became the basis for the popular movie, The Day After Tomorrow.
Other work
In 1996, Bell appeared in an episode of the NBC science fiction series Dark Skies as William S. Paley, head of CBS.
On September 30, 1998, NBC's Today Show aired a taped segment of reporter Fred Francis interviewing Bell. Francis questioned Bell about Hale-Bopp, Area 51, eccentric callers claiming to be "six-fingered alien hybrids", as well as the UFO sighting experienced by Bell and his wife Ramona.
In 1999, Bell appeared as himself on the series Millennium. The episode called "Collateral Damage" aired in the third season and dealt with a former U.S. soldier who claimed the government he fought for was indeed responsible for horrendous tests on soldiers and Iraqi civilians. (This episode was broadcast on January 22, 1999. The Washington Post, January 22, 1999.) In 1999 Bell was interviewed on Larry King Live. (This was broadcast on March 5, 1999. The Washington Post, March 5, 1999.)
Progressive rock band Tool's 2001 album, Lateralus, featured a track entitled "Faaip de Oiad" (Enochian for "The Voice of God"), which includes a clip of the "distraught and terrified" Area 51 employee call from September 11, 1997.
In 2005, Bell and then-wife Ramona were featured on the ABC News special: Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing Is Believing, which reported on the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. (This was broadcast on February 24, 2005. The Washington Post, 2-20-05.)
In 2005, snippets of Bell and callers to his show were featured on the song "Conspiracy Radio" on Sean Hogan's album Catalina Sunrise: Bell is credited for "voice-overs" on this track.
In 2006, Bell was featured in the video game Prey and played himself. He hosts, as in real life, Coast to Coast AM, and the player is able to listen to the broadcast at several terminals throughout the game. The broadcasts describe what is happening on Earth as the game unfolds. The game plot centers around a massive spaceship and alien abductions. Bell receives a number of calls about people who have seen smaller craft as they abduct people.
In 2007, Bell appeared as himself in the movie I Know Who Killed Me.
Bell appeared alongside Mark Arnold in the 2016 film titled Abduct, directed by Ilyas Kaduji and produced by Mafalda Sa. Bell plays himself as he and a group of friends try to help protect a young woman from an alien threat.
Notes
References
Further reading
Ronson, Jon. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004 ; Simon & Schuster, 2006 . Chapter 6, "Privatization," pp. 93–114.
External links
1945 births
2018 deaths
Accidental deaths in Nevada
Amateur radio people
American radio DJs
American radio executives
American talk radio hosts
Businesspeople from Nevada
Coast to Coast AM
Deaths from hypertension
Deaths from lung disease
Drug-related deaths in Nevada
Military personnel from North Carolina
Non-fiction environmental writers
People from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
People from Jacksonville, North Carolina
People from Pahrump, Nevada
People from Watsonville, California
Radio personalities from Nevada
Ufologists
United States Air Force airmen
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Writers from Nevada
Writers from North Carolina
20th-century American businesspeople | false | [
"John Bell is a radio personality from Jersey City, New Jersey. He is widely known for his contributions as one of the original staff members on WHTZ and Elvis Duran and the Morning Show (formerly known as The Z Morning Zoo). John actually started his career in the late-1970s with the previous radio station occupying the current dial position that is now Z100. At that time he was employed by WVNJ-FM 100.3 FM as an airstaffer. The station played mostly instrumental easy listening. The license was sold in 1983 excluding the building and transmitter. He was the only air staffer that stayed on but other off the air people also remained. He was known by Z100 staff and listeners as the, \"Voice of Reason.\" He was also the last original member of the Z100 staff (actually there prior to the 1983 sign on as mentioned) until his unexpected termination in March 2010.\n\nOn March 18, 2010, John Bell's contract with Z100 was terminated due to what he was told was a \"budget cut\". According to Examiner.com, John stated that he never planned on leaving the radio station in what was then the foreseeable future. He also stated that the station wanted people to think he had \"voluntarily retired or left the station on his own to pursue other interests\" in order to prevent an uproar from fans of him and the show.\" John also said that Elvis Duran wanted to be present at the termination meeting, but top executives wouldn't let that happen. His last official day on the show was March 18 but did return on March 22, 2010 where he had the opportunity to say goodbye to fans. \n\nBell has been a resident of Hillsborough Township, New Jersey.\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\n1934 births\nAmerican radio personalities\nPeople from Hillsborough Township, New Jersey\nPeople from Jersey City, New Jersey",
"William Edward Gompertz (born 25 August 1965) was the BBC's arts editor before moving to a position as the Barbican Centre’s Director of Arts and Learning from 1 June 2021.\n\nGompertz attended Dulwich Preparatory School, in Cranbrook, Kent.\n\nGompertz was previously director of Tate Media, and appeared in a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 called Double Art History. Gompertz has written extensively for The Guardian and The Times newspapers. He is the author of What Are You Looking At?: 150 Years of Modern Art in the Blink of an Eye and Think Like an Artist.\n\nHe is the son of general practitioner Hugh Gompertz OBE and a second cousin of Simon Gompertz, the personal finance correspondent to BBC News. He was born in Ashford, Kent, and attended Bedford School. He did not take any A-levels.\n\nGompertz married Kate Anderson (daughter of Sir Eric Anderson) in 1993 and they have three sons and one daughter.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n BBC blog\n\nLiving people\n1965 births\nPeople from Ashford, Kent\nBBC newsreaders and journalists\nBritish male journalists\nPeople educated at Bedford School\nEnglish people of German descent\nBritish people of German descent\nBritish art critics"
]
|
[
"Art Bell",
"Critical reputation",
"What did critics think of Bell's show?",
"Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO."
]
| C_86006828a515445586309c48bcce4eab_0 | Was this before the famous suicide of cult members? | 2 | Was Bell criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO before the famous suicide of cult members? | Art Bell | Fans regard Bell as a master showman, noting that he calls his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly says he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims but only offers a forum where they will not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006 edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use unscreened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future." He subsequently stopped screening calls upon his return to the United States. His calm attitude, patient questions, and ability to tease substance from nebulous statements of callers and guests gave his show a relaxed yet serious atmosphere. This earned him praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow have all been regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests, particularly Hoagland, continue to be regular guests on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory. Bell's own interests, however, extend beyond the paranormal. He has interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch. Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," and accordingly natural rather than artificial. CANNOTANSWER | It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, | Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly.
In 2003, Bell semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM. During the following four years, he hosted the show for many weekends on Premiere Networks. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting in 2007, but occasionally served as a guest host through to 2010. Classic episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some radio markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time hosted by Bell. He started a new nightly show, Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio, that aired for six weeks in 2013.
In 2015, he returned to radio with a new show Midnight in the Desert, which was available online via TuneIn as well as some terrestrial radio stations. He announced what would be his final retirement on December 11, 2015, citing security concerns at his home. He said that he and his family were subjected to repeated intrusions on his property in Pahrump, Nevada. The intrusions included gunshots, and he was in fear for his family's safety. He chose to leave the air and along with it public life because he believed that the intruder or intruders wanted him off the air.
Bell was the founder and original owner of Pahrump-based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. His broadcast studio and transmitter were located near his home in Pahrump, where he also hosted Coast to Coast AM.
Early life
Arthur William Bell III was born in North Carolina on June 17, 1945. Sources differ on whether he was born in Jacksonville or Camp Lejeune. He had a Lutheran background.
Bell was always interested in radio; at the age of 13, he became a licensed amateur radio operator. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is in the top U.S. Federal Communications Commission license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell served in the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War and in his free time operated a pirate radio station at Amarillo Air Force Base. He would make a point of playing anti-war music (like "Eve of Destruction" and "Fortunate Son") that was not aired on the American Forces Network.
After leaving military service, he remained in Asia, where he lived on the Japanese island of Okinawa. He worked as a disc jockey for KSBK, which was the only non-military English-language station in Japan. While there, he set a Guinness World Record by staying on the air for 116 hours and 15 minutes. The money raised there allowed Bell to charter a Douglas DC-8, fly to Vietnam, and rescue 130 Vietnamese orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually brought to the United States and adopted by American families.
Bell returned to the United States and studied engineering at the University of Maryland. He dropped out and returned to radio as a board operator and chief engineer, and had the opportunity to be on the air a few times. For several years, he worked behind and in front of the microphone. After a period of working in cable television, in 1986 the 50,000-watt KDWN in Las Vegas, Nevada, offered Bell a five-hour time slot in the middle of the night. Syndication of his program to other radio stations began in 1993.
Broadcasting career
Bell was a rock music disc jockey before he moved into talk radio. His original 1978 late-night Las Vegas program on KDWN was a political call-in show under the name West Coast AM. In 1988, Bell and Alan Corberth renamed the show Coast to Coast AM and moved its broadcast from the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas to Bell's home in Pahrump.
Bell abandoned conventional political talk in favor of topics such as gun control and conspiracy theories, leading to a significant bump in his overnight ratings. The show's focus again shifted significantly after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Many in the media did not want to be blamed for inciting anti-government or militia actions like the bombing. Subsequently, Bell discussed off-beat topics such as the paranormal, the occult, UFOs, protoscience and pseudoscience. During his tenure at KDWN Bell met and married his third wife, Ramona, who later handled production and management duties for the program.
An article in the February 23, 1997, edition of The Washington Post said that Bell was currently America's highest-rated late-night radio talk show host, broadcast on 328 stations. According to The Oregonian in its June 22, 1997, edition, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell was on 460 stations. At its initial peak in popularity, Coast to Coast AM was syndicated on more than 500 radio stations and claimed 15 million listeners nightly. Bell's studios were located in his home in the town of Pahrump, located in Nye County, Nevada; hence, the voice-over catchphrase, "from the Kingdom of Nye".
Critical reputation
Fans regarded Bell as a master showman, noting that he called his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly said he did not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims, but only offered a forum where they would not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006, edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call-screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use un-screened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future."
Bell has earned praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow were all regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests continue to appear on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory.
Bell's own interests, however, extended beyond the paranormal. He interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch.
Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale–Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. Some speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," (20 miles) and accordingly natural rather than artificial.
Callers and guests
On August 15, 1996, Bell interviewed William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries, in which Pierce—writing under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"—depicted a race war leading to the extermination of Jews, non-whites and gay people. Pierce denounced interracial marriage, calling white people who married non-whites "traitors to the white race"—apparently unaware that Bell himself was in an interracial marriage, as his then-wife, Ramona Bell, was an Asian-American of Filipino descent (his wife Airyn whom he married after Ramona's death was also Filipino).
One of Bell's Coast to Coast interviews occurred in 1997 with Mel Waters who discussed what is known as "Mel's Hole" in rural Washington State. The opening is said to be a fantastically deep vertical shaft which possesses bizarre properties. No such hole has ever been physically located by anyone attempting to verify this story.
A caller in 2000 named "Daniel Murray" claimed he was a Majestic Agent from Downey, California.
This call served as the inspiration for the alternate reality game Majestic.
A caller in September 1997 claimed he had discovered an unknown threat and conspiracy from Area 51, and his life was in danger by even talking about it. For unknown reasons, Bell lost connection to his transmitter during the call and, just as the caller's voice became more and more agitated, the entire broadcast dramatically went silent. A confused Bell restored the signal about 20 minutes later. The caller (or someone sounding similar) called in on a subsequent show and admitted it had been an elaborate hoax, which fooled many. Audio from the call was used in the Tool song "Faaip De Oiad," on the album Lateralus.
Amateur radio
Bell became a licensed amateur radio operator at the age of 13. His first call sign was KN3JOX, first listed in the Winter 1959 edition of the Radio Amateur Callbook. He soon upgraded to K3JOX, and he later held W2CKS, first listed in the Spring 1967 Callbook. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is the highest U.S. Federal Communications Commission amateur license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell passed the Philippines amateur radio exams and became a Philippine Class A amateur radio operator with the call sign of 4F1AB. While in the Philippines, Bell was active on 40-10 Meters, as well as 144.600 MHz simplex in Manila.
Honors
In 1998, Bell was named as recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Council for Media Integrity. Bell was recognized by the Council for "perpetuating conspiracy myths... and mystery mongering". When Bell learned of the award he replied "A mind should not be so open that the brains fall out, however it should not be so closed that whatever gray matter which does reside may not be reached. On behalf of those with the smallest remaining open aperture, I accept with honor."
In August 2006 Art was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He did not attend the presentation.
On March 10, 2007, Bell would be honored with the News/Talk Radio Lifetime Achievement Award from the trade publication Radio & Records in Los Angeles.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Marriages
Airyn Ruiz, April 11, 2006 – April 13, 2018 (his death). Children: Asia Rayne Bell and Alexander William Bell.
Ramona Lee Hayes, August 4, 1991 – January 5, 2006 (her death) † (see below)
Vickie L. Baker, married March 1, 1981, divorced, July 3, 1991. Children: Arthur William Bell IV
Sachiko Toguchi Bell Pontius, married 1965, divorced 1968. Children: Vincent Pontius, Lisa Pontius Minei.
Retirements and comebacks
Bell retired and returned to Coast to Coast AM several times.
On October 13, 1998, Bell announced his first retirement, which was highly unexpected by his listeners. He spoke of "an event, a threatening terrible event occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about. Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air." Hilly Rose filled in after Bell's departure. Bell returned on October 28, 1998, asserting that the brief departure was brought on by threats made against his family. On May 29, 1999, Bell explained that this retirement was due to an allegation made by hosts of WWCR shortwave radio that Bell had paid to cover up a criminal indictment. The facts of the matter became public knowledge in 2000, when the media revealed that an actual criminal indictment was filed against a person who had assaulted a member of Bell's family. Because of the nature of the crime, Bell had wanted to keep the matter private. Ted Gunderson, the former head of the Los Angeles FBI and the hosts at WWCR shortwave radio had accused Bell of the crime. Bell responded by taking legal action against Gunderson, as well as the hosts and stations. The action was resolved in a settlement in 2000.
On April 1, 2000, Bell again announced his retirement. He said that the event would occur on April 26, 2000, but offered no details other than expressing intentions to "resolve a family crisis." On April 11, 2000, Mike Siegel was introduced as the new host of Coast to Coast AM, taking over on April 27, to an estimated audience of 22 million listeners. The media later explained that Bell had left to deal with the aftermath of the kidnap and sexual assault of his son. Brian Lepley, a substitute teacher, was convicted of sexual assault and attempted transmission of HIV and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years. Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM in February 2001. Bell noted that since his departure the show had lost a number of affiliates, commercial content had risen to an unbearable level, and Siegel had taken the program in a "different direction" of which Bell disapproved. Bell retained some authority over the program as its creator and felt his return was necessary.
On October 23, 2002, Bell announced that he would retire due to recurring back pain, which was the result of a fall from a telephone pole during his youth. Bell was replaced by George Noory as weekday host of Coast to Coast AM on January 1, 2003. Those close to the matter also said that Barbara Simpson would host weekends and that Bell planned to be an occasional guest host for Noory. Bell returned in September 2003 as a weekend host, replacing Barbara Simpson and Ian Punnett as host of the Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. In June 2005, he scaled this schedule back, calling it a "semiretirement," and hosted only the last two Sundays of every month. Bell went back to hosting every weekend show as his schedule permitted after his wife Ramona's death a few months later.
On July 1, 2007, Bell announced his retirement, stating that he wished to spend more time with his new wife and daughter. He made it explicitly clear that, unlike the circumstances surrounding previous retirements, this decision was an entirely positive and joyful one and that he would not disappear completely, announcing an intention to occasionally substitute for other hosts and host "special" shows.
On December 11, 2015, Bell posted what would be his final retirement message via his Facebook page. He cited safety concerns for his family by saying "if one of them were harmed because of what I love doing my life would be over." Throughout the fall, Bell reported several incidents where an unknown number of armed trespassers came onto his property, sometimes firing gunshots. These events have been said to occur during or around the time of his broadcasting. This announcement came a mere five months after the start of his most recent show, Midnight in the Desert.
Events of 2006
Bell's life took some dramatic twists in the beginning of 2006:
Death of Ramona Bell
On January 5, 2006, Ramona Bell, his wife of 15 years, died unexpectedly at the age of 47 of what appeared to be an acute asthma attack in Laughlin, Nevada, where the couple had been taking a short vacation.
During the January 22 broadcast of Coast to Coast AM, Bell described in great detail the events surrounding his wife's death. For weeks thereafter, callers to the station would speak to George Noory and express their sadness and sympathy for Bell; Noory had taken Bell's place on weekdays beginning in 2002.
Change in schedule
On January 21, 2006, 16 days after the unexpected death of his wife Ramona, Bell announced he would host Coast to Coast AM every Saturday and Sunday evening, and that former weekend host Ian Punnett would work a new live prefeed program for the four hours preceding Bell's slot on Saturday nights (9:00 pm – 1:00 am ET).
New marriage
By the end of January, Bell began hinting that he was making a significant life decision, but that he would keep it a secret for at least one year, asking listeners to remind him in 2007 to let them in on it. By March, he was saying that he would soon take a "huge risk" and "do something rash". On April 15, 2006, he ended the mystery and, to the mild surprise of listeners, revealed that, after several weeks of mourning, he had recently gone to the Philippines and married Airyn Ruiz.
Return to "the High Desert and the Great American Southwest"
Bell opened his December 28, 2006, program by disclosing that he had just relocated back to Pahrump, Nevada, with Ruiz, who had obtained the necessary paperwork for immigrating to the United States.
Events of 2008
On May 29, 2008, Bell sold KNYE to Station Manager Karen Jackson.
On September 8, 2008, Noory stated that he would be hosting the annual Ghost to Ghost AM Halloween call-in show rather than Bell, who normally returns to the Coast to Coast to host it (along with the New Year's prediction shows).
On November 30, 2008, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM. Michio Kaku was the guest. This was the first time Bell had hosted the show since May 23, 2008.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Events of 2009
Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM on February 20, 2009, for a discussion on the global financial crisis with Wall St. insider Michael J. Panzner. Bell and Panzner agreed the United States was headed for an economic depression.
Bell was scheduled to return to Coast to Coast AM on April 24, 2009, to host an evening of open lines, but because of engineering problems in Manila, Bell was rescheduled to a later date.
On May 17, 2009, Bell returned to host Coast to Coast AM live from Manila. His guest was professor Peter Ward. Topics of discussion were mass extinctions, Earth's "self-destructive" phenomena, and life beyond planet Earth. While on the air, Bell answered an email question from a listener who asked why he was in the Philippines again and how long he'd be there. Bell replied that he'd address it on "Friday" and hinted that his move might be permanent.
As of May 20, 2009, the Coast to Coast website listed that Bell would be filling in for George Noory on Friday, May 22, 2009, to interview Bob Koontz. However, Bell did not do that show. The Coast to Coast website, again, cited technical difficulties in Manila and that his interview would be postponed. Bell interviewed Koontz on Saturday, June 6, 2009.
Friday June 26, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Dean Radin. He also commented on the death of Michael Jackson and how he had lived in Pahrump, Nevada, not too far away from where Bell lived.
Friday November 20, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Starfire Tor, psi researcher and experiencer who discussed time shifts and time slips, and other strange occurrences of time. During the first 90 minutes, they were joined by Whitley Strieber, who shared his take on Tor's research.
On Wednesday, December 30, and Thursday, December 31, 2009, Bell once again hosted his annual New Year's predictions special of Coast to Coast, noting that a number of the predictions this year were of an unusual and interesting nature and not mere repeats of many that had come before, though he also took several callers to task for seemingly veiling their obvious political agendas or wishes in the form of predictions, rather than offering up something from their "psychic center," which is what he repeatedly asks for during the prediction show. He also suggested that maybe Coast to Coast AM should institute some sort of prize or acknowledgment for listeners whose predictions are particularly accurate or astute.
Immigration controversy
In late 2008, Bell and his wife filed an I-751 petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of her marriage-based green card process. In early 2009 the USCIS responded that they would need additional evidence to prove that Bell's marriage to a Philippine national and subsequent green card application was in good faith. Bell responded with evidence including their marriage license, their daughter's birth certificate, Bell's last will and testament, bank records, family photos, and Social Security forms. Bell sent the package to the USCIS by return receipt mail, and he subsequently received the return receipt stamped "USCIS RECEIVED JAN-15-09."
On March 10, 2009, Bell and his wife and daughter left Nevada for Manila to deal with some family business including the disposition of a condo they owned. Shortly thereafter, the USCIS denied the application on the grounds that the documentary evidence was never received, and further stipulated that Airyn Bell is not permitted to re-enter the United States, which is why Bell remained in the Philippines. Moreover, since the Bells were out of the country when the application was denied, they were required to start the process all over again.
On his June 6 broadcast, Bell explained the situation and asked his listeners to send emails on his behalf to the White House.
Events of 2010–15
Bell hosted 10 episodes in 2010, 5 short of his publicly announced, contractually specified quota of 15 shows per year. His last hosting gig was his annual Ghost to Ghost show on Halloween night (this was the first show ever wherein Bell used call screeners). At the end of that broadcast, Bell said "When they next call my name we'll come back and we'll do this one more time."
As of December 2010, Bell was no longer listed as a host on the Coast to Coast website; his shows were no longer searchable under his name; and the only references to Bell on the site were of an historical/archival nature. However, the weekly Somewhere in Time with Art Bell broadcasts of classic Bell-hosted episodes (which have aired before the live show on Saturday nights since 2006) were not discontinued.
On December 21, 2010, the "HamCam" on Bell's ham radio website featured an image with the following cryptic wording: "The Wind No Longer Blows, in the End it was Without Direction. Long Live the Hot Air. 30" "-30-" is journalistic shorthand for "end of story."
It was announced in late December 2010 that Ian Punnett would host Bell's annual two-part New Year's Eve prediction shows. Initially, Noory had said that Bell was unable to host them because he would be traveling, but on December 24, 2010, Noory said: "We had asked Art to do his predictions show; he's going to spend time with his family. He's winding down, folks, he's winding down...I don't anticipate he'll do any more shows." On the first of the two nights (December 30, 2010), Punnett made a brief, oblique reference to his having the honor of "picking up [Bell's] fallen mantle." On the January 1, 2011, show, Punnett stated he was "looking forward to doing the follow-up a year from now."
In email interactions with fans who have written in to inquire about Bell's absence, Coast personnel confirmed that Bell had retired. According to Coast webmaster Lex Lonehood: "Art Bell decided he no longer wished to do live C2C shows, and asked that his name be removed from the host listings accordingly. Classics and Somewhere in Time shows will continue as is." Coast producer Lisa Lyon told another fan that Bell "has chosen to retire," but that "Art Bell will always be associated with our show, and he is welcome back to the mic whenever he feels the need."
Despite the above remarks from Punnett, Noory, Lyon, Lonehood and Bell, as of January 6, 2011, an official public statement formally confirming Bell's departure from Coast to Coast AM has yet to be made via press release, website announcement or on-air, by any party with the authority to do so—the show's producers, Premier Radio Networks, Clear Channel Communications, or Bell himself. This lack of information has led to rampant speculation among Bell's fanbase as to the motivations and circumstances behind Bell's sudden absence; whether he had given his last live broadcast; and what—if anything—he might decide to do next.
During a chat on February 8, 2011, events became even more confusing for Bell's fans as George Noory, during a public chat responding to a question regarding Bell, stated that Bell isn't responding to his emails. The questioner, "Coalspeaker," asked "Have you spoken to Art Bell lately? And if so is he and his family doing well?" Noory responded by saying, "No I haven't. Art has decided to retire for good this time. I assume all is well for him and his family. He has gone through many ups and downs. I sent him a very lengthy email a few months ago, and he never responded. Though he normally would." There was no further explanation beyond that point on why Bell did not respond to Mr. Noory's email, although it only led Bell's fanbase to speculate further.
In March 2011 a Facebook profile appeared claiming to be the legitimate page of "Arthur W. Bell III," who posted hints that there would be a "big announcement" at the end of April 2011. After much speculation and debate among fans and friends on that page and various Bell forums, and finally after direct intervention from a verified Bell account, the "Arthur W. Bell III" page was proven to be a hoax, with no "big announcement" imminent.
On July 20, 2011, Bell announced via his Facebook page that he had relocated with his family to Pahrump, Nevada. Subsequent posts indicate Bell and his family initially focusing on resettling his house and making it "fit for human habitation" again, giving no indication about his radio plans, if any (beyond maintaining his HAM activity). However, on July 30, Bell posted the following: "There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day. There are things going on in the background that I will talk about at the proper time. The move was a big one and we need time to adjust."
On August 19, 2011, Bell announced via Facebook "Phrase for the day...Stay tuned!", followed on August 31 by the message "Sorry for so few posts but we are working on this house every day like dogs, much more soon." Some Bell fans voiced speculation that the phrase "stay tuned" may have been meant to indicate Bell's return to broadcasting in some form, but 2011 ended with no such announcement forthcoming, though shortly before Christmas he did report that a malfunctioning fire extinguisher in his radio room caused tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage to his equipment and house.
On August 20, 2012, Bell spoke of his grievances with Premiere Networks, claiming that he would soon tell the full story of the truth of his retirement. "I am just about ready to tell the real story of my so-called 'Retirements'. I have asked Premiere to stop the Saturday broadcasts and thus far they have not done so, as is their legal right. Free speech remains my right. I will soon exercise it."
On November 1, 2012, Bell updated his Facebook status with the following: "I wish my name was no longer associated with what Coast has become!"
Return to radio in 2013
In January 2013, Bell announced on Facebook, "I am now in negotiation for a new Radio show, stay tuned. No promises but the wind may be about to change direction!"
"I guess it is time to end any further speculation that I will return to the air any time soon. I have given (2) very solid offers a lot of thought and have turned them down. My reasons are many, though I am profoundly sad at the current state of the show, both offers would have been direct competition with Coast and anger is the wrong reason to proceed. Also I really do not want to destroy what I built despite its current state. Asia will be in first grade in the Fall and getting up very early, I would be up late and sleeping late, I would not see much of her or Airyn. Life is short and I want to spend what I have left with my Family. I hope my friends understand..."
In June 2013, Bell announced on his Facebook page that his official website, artbell.com, would be relaunching. On July 10, 2013, a red, white, and blue textual representation of a smiley face was displayed on the website. The site's favicon is a picture of a grey alien. On July 11, 2013, the smiley face was replaced with a red, white, and blue Morse code script that translated to "Wanna take a ride?".
On July 29, 2013, Bell officially announced a return to the airwaves with a launch date of September 16, 2013. His new show Art Bell's Dark Matter was broadcast on SiriusXM satellite radio's Indie Talk channel (channel #104), Monday through Thursday from 7 PM to 11 PM PT with repeats during the remainder of the night and "best of" shows airing on Fridays. His official website was updated on that date to include the announcement.
On November 4, 2013, Bell left Dark Matter after only six weeks.
On November 7, 2013, Bell announced and began testing for potential Internet streaming sources.
Midnight in the Desert radio show
On July 20, 2015, Bell returned with his new show Midnight in the Desert. The show aired on the internet Dark Matter Digital network and on 45 stations (20 of which signed on before the show started) from 9 PM to midnight PT. He also started transmitting on shortwave radio on WTWW at 5.085 MHz as well.
On December 11, 2015, Bell announced that he had permanently stepped down as host of Midnight in the Desert due to concerns about his family's safety. Bell had reported multiple instances of someone shooting firearms at and near his property in the fall of 2015. The show Midnight in the Desert continued with new host Heather Wade, and shortly after Art's death Dave Schrader became the host. Bell made the occasional guest host appearance.
Death
Art Bell died April 13, 2018, at age 72 at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. An autopsy was scheduled for the following days to determine the cause of his death. He had suffered from health problems in the previous years. He posted on his website in July 2016 that he was hospitalized for pneumonia and revealed at the time that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On August 1, 2018, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the Clark County coroner's office findings. The coroner's office stated that Bell died of an accidental overdose from a cocktail of prescription drugs. The coroner's office determined he had four prescription medications in his system: the opioids oxycodone or Roxicet and hydrocodone or Vicodin, diazepam or Valium, and carisoprodol or Soma, a muscle-relaxant. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension also contributed to his death.
George Noory, current host of Coast To Coast AM, announced Bell's death and while struggling to keep his composure stated, "Art and I were not that close. We had our differences, but he was one of those instrumental in me being where I am right now."
Books
Bell wrote, or co-wrote, several books, including The Quickening: Today's Trends, Tomorrow's World; The Art of Talk (an autobiography); The Source: Journey Through the Unexplained; The Edge: Man's Mysterious Past & Incredible Future; and The Coming Global Superstorm (co-authored with Whitley Streiber), which became the basis for the popular movie, The Day After Tomorrow.
Other work
In 1996, Bell appeared in an episode of the NBC science fiction series Dark Skies as William S. Paley, head of CBS.
On September 30, 1998, NBC's Today Show aired a taped segment of reporter Fred Francis interviewing Bell. Francis questioned Bell about Hale-Bopp, Area 51, eccentric callers claiming to be "six-fingered alien hybrids", as well as the UFO sighting experienced by Bell and his wife Ramona.
In 1999, Bell appeared as himself on the series Millennium. The episode called "Collateral Damage" aired in the third season and dealt with a former U.S. soldier who claimed the government he fought for was indeed responsible for horrendous tests on soldiers and Iraqi civilians. (This episode was broadcast on January 22, 1999. The Washington Post, January 22, 1999.) In 1999 Bell was interviewed on Larry King Live. (This was broadcast on March 5, 1999. The Washington Post, March 5, 1999.)
Progressive rock band Tool's 2001 album, Lateralus, featured a track entitled "Faaip de Oiad" (Enochian for "The Voice of God"), which includes a clip of the "distraught and terrified" Area 51 employee call from September 11, 1997.
In 2005, Bell and then-wife Ramona were featured on the ABC News special: Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing Is Believing, which reported on the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. (This was broadcast on February 24, 2005. The Washington Post, 2-20-05.)
In 2005, snippets of Bell and callers to his show were featured on the song "Conspiracy Radio" on Sean Hogan's album Catalina Sunrise: Bell is credited for "voice-overs" on this track.
In 2006, Bell was featured in the video game Prey and played himself. He hosts, as in real life, Coast to Coast AM, and the player is able to listen to the broadcast at several terminals throughout the game. The broadcasts describe what is happening on Earth as the game unfolds. The game plot centers around a massive spaceship and alien abductions. Bell receives a number of calls about people who have seen smaller craft as they abduct people.
In 2007, Bell appeared as himself in the movie I Know Who Killed Me.
Bell appeared alongside Mark Arnold in the 2016 film titled Abduct, directed by Ilyas Kaduji and produced by Mafalda Sa. Bell plays himself as he and a group of friends try to help protect a young woman from an alien threat.
Notes
References
Further reading
Ronson, Jon. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004 ; Simon & Schuster, 2006 . Chapter 6, "Privatization," pp. 93–114.
External links
1945 births
2018 deaths
Accidental deaths in Nevada
Amateur radio people
American radio DJs
American radio executives
American talk radio hosts
Businesspeople from Nevada
Coast to Coast AM
Deaths from hypertension
Deaths from lung disease
Drug-related deaths in Nevada
Military personnel from North Carolina
Non-fiction environmental writers
People from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
People from Jacksonville, North Carolina
People from Pahrump, Nevada
People from Watsonville, California
Radio personalities from Nevada
Ufologists
United States Air Force airmen
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Writers from Nevada
Writers from North Carolina
20th-century American businesspeople | false | [
"Suicide in Guyana is a serious social problem, as Guyana is ranked first in suicides per capita worldwide among sovereign nations.\n\nAbout 40% of people who commit suicide in Guyana poison themselves by consuming agricultural pesticides.\n\nStatistics \nDomestic data on suicide in Guyana is limited, as the country's available health literature is focused mainly on infectious tropical diseases. A 2012 World Health Organization report indicated that Guyana had a suicide rate of 44.2 per 100,000 people, and that for every single female suicide, there were 3.2 male suicides. By comparison, neighboring Suriname had a suicide rate of 27.8 per 100,000, and Venezuela's rate was 2.6 per 100,000.\n\nSuicide in Guyana has often been attributed to Indo-Guyanese men, although suicide exists among all ethnic groups in the country. In 2016, 73% of deaths by suicide were persons of Indian descent, mostly of lower and middle income groups.\n\nPossible causes\n\nEconomic insecurity \nA 2003 World Bank report stated that the political process in Guyana is often fought with so much time and energy that \"little [is] left to undertake the many policies necessary to facilitate growth and development,\" while the IMF in 2001 acknowledged \"poor governance\" as a major obstacle to the reduction of absolute poverty rates, which are among the highest in the region. Poor governance on the national level has led to inefficiencies and strained the abilities of local and regional authorities to provide basic services and guarantee rule of law. Distribution of land and water rights, payment of taxes, court cases, and the issuance of gun and driver's licenses are all frequently found to be fraudulent. This basic ill-governance has fed a sense of mistrust and frustration among the population, reduced investments in constructive economic projects, and has led to the growth of a shadow economy. This in turn has lowered tax revenues, further reducing the government's spending power and ability to fight poverty and repair basic infrastructure. However, the role of economic insecurity as a leading factor in suicide rates remains a controversial issue in Guyana.\n\nDisease \nAnother factor is the rate of HIV/AIDS in the country, which is third-highest in the Caribbean region. Several studies have reported an association between HIV/AIDS and suicidal ideation.\n\nLegal issues \n\nAttempts by the government to address the issue have been stymied by political divisions. A bill was voted down in 2016 which would have amended the country's laws in order to decriminalize suicide, implemented the 2014 Mental Health Strategic Plan and a 5-year National Suicide Prevention Plan which were both crafted by the previous government, and allocated funds to treat mental health and suicide as national priorities. Speakers for the parliamentary majority argued that the manner in which the legislation was framed both politicized and trivialized the issue.\n\nRelated topic\nThe most famous case of suicide in Guyana was the Jonestown mass suicide of over 900 cult members of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple in 1978, although some sources regard the events as a mass murder. Although this occurred in Guyana, the leader of this cult along with the followers were all foreigners and not Guyanese nationals.\n\nSee also \n Health in Guyana\n List of countries by suicide rate\n\nReferences \n\n \nHealth in Guyana",
"Odozi Obodo Society was a secret cult that operated between 1954 and 1958 in Abakaliki area of Eastern Nigeria. A ruthless cult, it was led by a high priest, Nwiboko Obodo also who was also known as \"afunanya ekwe\".\n\nHistory\nNwiboko Obodo hailed from Isieke, a village a few kilometers from Abakaliki. He had lived in different communities before returning to Isieke in 1953. In the village, he formed a group to curb criminal activities within the community. However, the group's activities soon turned oppressive and deadly, as villagers began to believe the group was involved in the murder of community members. During this period, the incomes of the cult members showed improvement and they began to flaunt their wealth, attracting more members. The high priest, Obodo, would pay the taxes of adult residents in the village and then turn around and bill them fines; if the resident could not pay, their farm or property would be seized.\n\nCriminal investigation into the activities of the cult arose after the disappearance of Obodo's wife. After she was not seen publicly for a few months, her brother reported a missing persons case at the local police station. A subsequent undercover operation gathered incriminating evidence on the activities of the cult. Obodo's house was searched and further evidence implicating him and six others in the murder of his wife was found. The investigation revealed that the cult was involved in various murders in the Eastern region, mostly of persons alleged to be involved in criminal activities or social vices and who were unable to pay the fines imposed by the society. The trial of members of the cult led to the sentencing of 59 persons to death.\n\nReferences\n\nAfrican secret societies\nReligion in Nigeria"
]
|
[
"Art Bell",
"Critical reputation",
"What did critics think of Bell's show?",
"Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO.",
"Was this before the famous suicide of cult members?",
"It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired,"
]
| C_86006828a515445586309c48bcce4eab_0 | Did he face any consequences? | 3 | Did Art Bell face any consequences for reporting rumors about a UFO? | Art Bell | Fans regard Bell as a master showman, noting that he calls his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly says he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims but only offers a forum where they will not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006 edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use unscreened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future." He subsequently stopped screening calls upon his return to the United States. His calm attitude, patient questions, and ability to tease substance from nebulous statements of callers and guests gave his show a relaxed yet serious atmosphere. This earned him praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow have all been regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests, particularly Hoagland, continue to be regular guests on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory. Bell's own interests, however, extend beyond the paranormal. He has interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch. Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," and accordingly natural rather than artificial. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly.
In 2003, Bell semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM. During the following four years, he hosted the show for many weekends on Premiere Networks. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting in 2007, but occasionally served as a guest host through to 2010. Classic episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some radio markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time hosted by Bell. He started a new nightly show, Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio, that aired for six weeks in 2013.
In 2015, he returned to radio with a new show Midnight in the Desert, which was available online via TuneIn as well as some terrestrial radio stations. He announced what would be his final retirement on December 11, 2015, citing security concerns at his home. He said that he and his family were subjected to repeated intrusions on his property in Pahrump, Nevada. The intrusions included gunshots, and he was in fear for his family's safety. He chose to leave the air and along with it public life because he believed that the intruder or intruders wanted him off the air.
Bell was the founder and original owner of Pahrump-based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. His broadcast studio and transmitter were located near his home in Pahrump, where he also hosted Coast to Coast AM.
Early life
Arthur William Bell III was born in North Carolina on June 17, 1945. Sources differ on whether he was born in Jacksonville or Camp Lejeune. He had a Lutheran background.
Bell was always interested in radio; at the age of 13, he became a licensed amateur radio operator. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is in the top U.S. Federal Communications Commission license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell served in the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War and in his free time operated a pirate radio station at Amarillo Air Force Base. He would make a point of playing anti-war music (like "Eve of Destruction" and "Fortunate Son") that was not aired on the American Forces Network.
After leaving military service, he remained in Asia, where he lived on the Japanese island of Okinawa. He worked as a disc jockey for KSBK, which was the only non-military English-language station in Japan. While there, he set a Guinness World Record by staying on the air for 116 hours and 15 minutes. The money raised there allowed Bell to charter a Douglas DC-8, fly to Vietnam, and rescue 130 Vietnamese orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually brought to the United States and adopted by American families.
Bell returned to the United States and studied engineering at the University of Maryland. He dropped out and returned to radio as a board operator and chief engineer, and had the opportunity to be on the air a few times. For several years, he worked behind and in front of the microphone. After a period of working in cable television, in 1986 the 50,000-watt KDWN in Las Vegas, Nevada, offered Bell a five-hour time slot in the middle of the night. Syndication of his program to other radio stations began in 1993.
Broadcasting career
Bell was a rock music disc jockey before he moved into talk radio. His original 1978 late-night Las Vegas program on KDWN was a political call-in show under the name West Coast AM. In 1988, Bell and Alan Corberth renamed the show Coast to Coast AM and moved its broadcast from the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas to Bell's home in Pahrump.
Bell abandoned conventional political talk in favor of topics such as gun control and conspiracy theories, leading to a significant bump in his overnight ratings. The show's focus again shifted significantly after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Many in the media did not want to be blamed for inciting anti-government or militia actions like the bombing. Subsequently, Bell discussed off-beat topics such as the paranormal, the occult, UFOs, protoscience and pseudoscience. During his tenure at KDWN Bell met and married his third wife, Ramona, who later handled production and management duties for the program.
An article in the February 23, 1997, edition of The Washington Post said that Bell was currently America's highest-rated late-night radio talk show host, broadcast on 328 stations. According to The Oregonian in its June 22, 1997, edition, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell was on 460 stations. At its initial peak in popularity, Coast to Coast AM was syndicated on more than 500 radio stations and claimed 15 million listeners nightly. Bell's studios were located in his home in the town of Pahrump, located in Nye County, Nevada; hence, the voice-over catchphrase, "from the Kingdom of Nye".
Critical reputation
Fans regarded Bell as a master showman, noting that he called his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly said he did not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims, but only offered a forum where they would not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006, edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call-screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use un-screened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future."
Bell has earned praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow were all regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests continue to appear on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory.
Bell's own interests, however, extended beyond the paranormal. He interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch.
Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale–Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. Some speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," (20 miles) and accordingly natural rather than artificial.
Callers and guests
On August 15, 1996, Bell interviewed William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries, in which Pierce—writing under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"—depicted a race war leading to the extermination of Jews, non-whites and gay people. Pierce denounced interracial marriage, calling white people who married non-whites "traitors to the white race"—apparently unaware that Bell himself was in an interracial marriage, as his then-wife, Ramona Bell, was an Asian-American of Filipino descent (his wife Airyn whom he married after Ramona's death was also Filipino).
One of Bell's Coast to Coast interviews occurred in 1997 with Mel Waters who discussed what is known as "Mel's Hole" in rural Washington State. The opening is said to be a fantastically deep vertical shaft which possesses bizarre properties. No such hole has ever been physically located by anyone attempting to verify this story.
A caller in 2000 named "Daniel Murray" claimed he was a Majestic Agent from Downey, California.
This call served as the inspiration for the alternate reality game Majestic.
A caller in September 1997 claimed he had discovered an unknown threat and conspiracy from Area 51, and his life was in danger by even talking about it. For unknown reasons, Bell lost connection to his transmitter during the call and, just as the caller's voice became more and more agitated, the entire broadcast dramatically went silent. A confused Bell restored the signal about 20 minutes later. The caller (or someone sounding similar) called in on a subsequent show and admitted it had been an elaborate hoax, which fooled many. Audio from the call was used in the Tool song "Faaip De Oiad," on the album Lateralus.
Amateur radio
Bell became a licensed amateur radio operator at the age of 13. His first call sign was KN3JOX, first listed in the Winter 1959 edition of the Radio Amateur Callbook. He soon upgraded to K3JOX, and he later held W2CKS, first listed in the Spring 1967 Callbook. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is the highest U.S. Federal Communications Commission amateur license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell passed the Philippines amateur radio exams and became a Philippine Class A amateur radio operator with the call sign of 4F1AB. While in the Philippines, Bell was active on 40-10 Meters, as well as 144.600 MHz simplex in Manila.
Honors
In 1998, Bell was named as recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Council for Media Integrity. Bell was recognized by the Council for "perpetuating conspiracy myths... and mystery mongering". When Bell learned of the award he replied "A mind should not be so open that the brains fall out, however it should not be so closed that whatever gray matter which does reside may not be reached. On behalf of those with the smallest remaining open aperture, I accept with honor."
In August 2006 Art was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He did not attend the presentation.
On March 10, 2007, Bell would be honored with the News/Talk Radio Lifetime Achievement Award from the trade publication Radio & Records in Los Angeles.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Marriages
Airyn Ruiz, April 11, 2006 – April 13, 2018 (his death). Children: Asia Rayne Bell and Alexander William Bell.
Ramona Lee Hayes, August 4, 1991 – January 5, 2006 (her death) † (see below)
Vickie L. Baker, married March 1, 1981, divorced, July 3, 1991. Children: Arthur William Bell IV
Sachiko Toguchi Bell Pontius, married 1965, divorced 1968. Children: Vincent Pontius, Lisa Pontius Minei.
Retirements and comebacks
Bell retired and returned to Coast to Coast AM several times.
On October 13, 1998, Bell announced his first retirement, which was highly unexpected by his listeners. He spoke of "an event, a threatening terrible event occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about. Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air." Hilly Rose filled in after Bell's departure. Bell returned on October 28, 1998, asserting that the brief departure was brought on by threats made against his family. On May 29, 1999, Bell explained that this retirement was due to an allegation made by hosts of WWCR shortwave radio that Bell had paid to cover up a criminal indictment. The facts of the matter became public knowledge in 2000, when the media revealed that an actual criminal indictment was filed against a person who had assaulted a member of Bell's family. Because of the nature of the crime, Bell had wanted to keep the matter private. Ted Gunderson, the former head of the Los Angeles FBI and the hosts at WWCR shortwave radio had accused Bell of the crime. Bell responded by taking legal action against Gunderson, as well as the hosts and stations. The action was resolved in a settlement in 2000.
On April 1, 2000, Bell again announced his retirement. He said that the event would occur on April 26, 2000, but offered no details other than expressing intentions to "resolve a family crisis." On April 11, 2000, Mike Siegel was introduced as the new host of Coast to Coast AM, taking over on April 27, to an estimated audience of 22 million listeners. The media later explained that Bell had left to deal with the aftermath of the kidnap and sexual assault of his son. Brian Lepley, a substitute teacher, was convicted of sexual assault and attempted transmission of HIV and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years. Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM in February 2001. Bell noted that since his departure the show had lost a number of affiliates, commercial content had risen to an unbearable level, and Siegel had taken the program in a "different direction" of which Bell disapproved. Bell retained some authority over the program as its creator and felt his return was necessary.
On October 23, 2002, Bell announced that he would retire due to recurring back pain, which was the result of a fall from a telephone pole during his youth. Bell was replaced by George Noory as weekday host of Coast to Coast AM on January 1, 2003. Those close to the matter also said that Barbara Simpson would host weekends and that Bell planned to be an occasional guest host for Noory. Bell returned in September 2003 as a weekend host, replacing Barbara Simpson and Ian Punnett as host of the Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. In June 2005, he scaled this schedule back, calling it a "semiretirement," and hosted only the last two Sundays of every month. Bell went back to hosting every weekend show as his schedule permitted after his wife Ramona's death a few months later.
On July 1, 2007, Bell announced his retirement, stating that he wished to spend more time with his new wife and daughter. He made it explicitly clear that, unlike the circumstances surrounding previous retirements, this decision was an entirely positive and joyful one and that he would not disappear completely, announcing an intention to occasionally substitute for other hosts and host "special" shows.
On December 11, 2015, Bell posted what would be his final retirement message via his Facebook page. He cited safety concerns for his family by saying "if one of them were harmed because of what I love doing my life would be over." Throughout the fall, Bell reported several incidents where an unknown number of armed trespassers came onto his property, sometimes firing gunshots. These events have been said to occur during or around the time of his broadcasting. This announcement came a mere five months after the start of his most recent show, Midnight in the Desert.
Events of 2006
Bell's life took some dramatic twists in the beginning of 2006:
Death of Ramona Bell
On January 5, 2006, Ramona Bell, his wife of 15 years, died unexpectedly at the age of 47 of what appeared to be an acute asthma attack in Laughlin, Nevada, where the couple had been taking a short vacation.
During the January 22 broadcast of Coast to Coast AM, Bell described in great detail the events surrounding his wife's death. For weeks thereafter, callers to the station would speak to George Noory and express their sadness and sympathy for Bell; Noory had taken Bell's place on weekdays beginning in 2002.
Change in schedule
On January 21, 2006, 16 days after the unexpected death of his wife Ramona, Bell announced he would host Coast to Coast AM every Saturday and Sunday evening, and that former weekend host Ian Punnett would work a new live prefeed program for the four hours preceding Bell's slot on Saturday nights (9:00 pm – 1:00 am ET).
New marriage
By the end of January, Bell began hinting that he was making a significant life decision, but that he would keep it a secret for at least one year, asking listeners to remind him in 2007 to let them in on it. By March, he was saying that he would soon take a "huge risk" and "do something rash". On April 15, 2006, he ended the mystery and, to the mild surprise of listeners, revealed that, after several weeks of mourning, he had recently gone to the Philippines and married Airyn Ruiz.
Return to "the High Desert and the Great American Southwest"
Bell opened his December 28, 2006, program by disclosing that he had just relocated back to Pahrump, Nevada, with Ruiz, who had obtained the necessary paperwork for immigrating to the United States.
Events of 2008
On May 29, 2008, Bell sold KNYE to Station Manager Karen Jackson.
On September 8, 2008, Noory stated that he would be hosting the annual Ghost to Ghost AM Halloween call-in show rather than Bell, who normally returns to the Coast to Coast to host it (along with the New Year's prediction shows).
On November 30, 2008, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM. Michio Kaku was the guest. This was the first time Bell had hosted the show since May 23, 2008.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Events of 2009
Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM on February 20, 2009, for a discussion on the global financial crisis with Wall St. insider Michael J. Panzner. Bell and Panzner agreed the United States was headed for an economic depression.
Bell was scheduled to return to Coast to Coast AM on April 24, 2009, to host an evening of open lines, but because of engineering problems in Manila, Bell was rescheduled to a later date.
On May 17, 2009, Bell returned to host Coast to Coast AM live from Manila. His guest was professor Peter Ward. Topics of discussion were mass extinctions, Earth's "self-destructive" phenomena, and life beyond planet Earth. While on the air, Bell answered an email question from a listener who asked why he was in the Philippines again and how long he'd be there. Bell replied that he'd address it on "Friday" and hinted that his move might be permanent.
As of May 20, 2009, the Coast to Coast website listed that Bell would be filling in for George Noory on Friday, May 22, 2009, to interview Bob Koontz. However, Bell did not do that show. The Coast to Coast website, again, cited technical difficulties in Manila and that his interview would be postponed. Bell interviewed Koontz on Saturday, June 6, 2009.
Friday June 26, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Dean Radin. He also commented on the death of Michael Jackson and how he had lived in Pahrump, Nevada, not too far away from where Bell lived.
Friday November 20, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Starfire Tor, psi researcher and experiencer who discussed time shifts and time slips, and other strange occurrences of time. During the first 90 minutes, they were joined by Whitley Strieber, who shared his take on Tor's research.
On Wednesday, December 30, and Thursday, December 31, 2009, Bell once again hosted his annual New Year's predictions special of Coast to Coast, noting that a number of the predictions this year were of an unusual and interesting nature and not mere repeats of many that had come before, though he also took several callers to task for seemingly veiling their obvious political agendas or wishes in the form of predictions, rather than offering up something from their "psychic center," which is what he repeatedly asks for during the prediction show. He also suggested that maybe Coast to Coast AM should institute some sort of prize or acknowledgment for listeners whose predictions are particularly accurate or astute.
Immigration controversy
In late 2008, Bell and his wife filed an I-751 petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of her marriage-based green card process. In early 2009 the USCIS responded that they would need additional evidence to prove that Bell's marriage to a Philippine national and subsequent green card application was in good faith. Bell responded with evidence including their marriage license, their daughter's birth certificate, Bell's last will and testament, bank records, family photos, and Social Security forms. Bell sent the package to the USCIS by return receipt mail, and he subsequently received the return receipt stamped "USCIS RECEIVED JAN-15-09."
On March 10, 2009, Bell and his wife and daughter left Nevada for Manila to deal with some family business including the disposition of a condo they owned. Shortly thereafter, the USCIS denied the application on the grounds that the documentary evidence was never received, and further stipulated that Airyn Bell is not permitted to re-enter the United States, which is why Bell remained in the Philippines. Moreover, since the Bells were out of the country when the application was denied, they were required to start the process all over again.
On his June 6 broadcast, Bell explained the situation and asked his listeners to send emails on his behalf to the White House.
Events of 2010–15
Bell hosted 10 episodes in 2010, 5 short of his publicly announced, contractually specified quota of 15 shows per year. His last hosting gig was his annual Ghost to Ghost show on Halloween night (this was the first show ever wherein Bell used call screeners). At the end of that broadcast, Bell said "When they next call my name we'll come back and we'll do this one more time."
As of December 2010, Bell was no longer listed as a host on the Coast to Coast website; his shows were no longer searchable under his name; and the only references to Bell on the site were of an historical/archival nature. However, the weekly Somewhere in Time with Art Bell broadcasts of classic Bell-hosted episodes (which have aired before the live show on Saturday nights since 2006) were not discontinued.
On December 21, 2010, the "HamCam" on Bell's ham radio website featured an image with the following cryptic wording: "The Wind No Longer Blows, in the End it was Without Direction. Long Live the Hot Air. 30" "-30-" is journalistic shorthand for "end of story."
It was announced in late December 2010 that Ian Punnett would host Bell's annual two-part New Year's Eve prediction shows. Initially, Noory had said that Bell was unable to host them because he would be traveling, but on December 24, 2010, Noory said: "We had asked Art to do his predictions show; he's going to spend time with his family. He's winding down, folks, he's winding down...I don't anticipate he'll do any more shows." On the first of the two nights (December 30, 2010), Punnett made a brief, oblique reference to his having the honor of "picking up [Bell's] fallen mantle." On the January 1, 2011, show, Punnett stated he was "looking forward to doing the follow-up a year from now."
In email interactions with fans who have written in to inquire about Bell's absence, Coast personnel confirmed that Bell had retired. According to Coast webmaster Lex Lonehood: "Art Bell decided he no longer wished to do live C2C shows, and asked that his name be removed from the host listings accordingly. Classics and Somewhere in Time shows will continue as is." Coast producer Lisa Lyon told another fan that Bell "has chosen to retire," but that "Art Bell will always be associated with our show, and he is welcome back to the mic whenever he feels the need."
Despite the above remarks from Punnett, Noory, Lyon, Lonehood and Bell, as of January 6, 2011, an official public statement formally confirming Bell's departure from Coast to Coast AM has yet to be made via press release, website announcement or on-air, by any party with the authority to do so—the show's producers, Premier Radio Networks, Clear Channel Communications, or Bell himself. This lack of information has led to rampant speculation among Bell's fanbase as to the motivations and circumstances behind Bell's sudden absence; whether he had given his last live broadcast; and what—if anything—he might decide to do next.
During a chat on February 8, 2011, events became even more confusing for Bell's fans as George Noory, during a public chat responding to a question regarding Bell, stated that Bell isn't responding to his emails. The questioner, "Coalspeaker," asked "Have you spoken to Art Bell lately? And if so is he and his family doing well?" Noory responded by saying, "No I haven't. Art has decided to retire for good this time. I assume all is well for him and his family. He has gone through many ups and downs. I sent him a very lengthy email a few months ago, and he never responded. Though he normally would." There was no further explanation beyond that point on why Bell did not respond to Mr. Noory's email, although it only led Bell's fanbase to speculate further.
In March 2011 a Facebook profile appeared claiming to be the legitimate page of "Arthur W. Bell III," who posted hints that there would be a "big announcement" at the end of April 2011. After much speculation and debate among fans and friends on that page and various Bell forums, and finally after direct intervention from a verified Bell account, the "Arthur W. Bell III" page was proven to be a hoax, with no "big announcement" imminent.
On July 20, 2011, Bell announced via his Facebook page that he had relocated with his family to Pahrump, Nevada. Subsequent posts indicate Bell and his family initially focusing on resettling his house and making it "fit for human habitation" again, giving no indication about his radio plans, if any (beyond maintaining his HAM activity). However, on July 30, Bell posted the following: "There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day. There are things going on in the background that I will talk about at the proper time. The move was a big one and we need time to adjust."
On August 19, 2011, Bell announced via Facebook "Phrase for the day...Stay tuned!", followed on August 31 by the message "Sorry for so few posts but we are working on this house every day like dogs, much more soon." Some Bell fans voiced speculation that the phrase "stay tuned" may have been meant to indicate Bell's return to broadcasting in some form, but 2011 ended with no such announcement forthcoming, though shortly before Christmas he did report that a malfunctioning fire extinguisher in his radio room caused tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage to his equipment and house.
On August 20, 2012, Bell spoke of his grievances with Premiere Networks, claiming that he would soon tell the full story of the truth of his retirement. "I am just about ready to tell the real story of my so-called 'Retirements'. I have asked Premiere to stop the Saturday broadcasts and thus far they have not done so, as is their legal right. Free speech remains my right. I will soon exercise it."
On November 1, 2012, Bell updated his Facebook status with the following: "I wish my name was no longer associated with what Coast has become!"
Return to radio in 2013
In January 2013, Bell announced on Facebook, "I am now in negotiation for a new Radio show, stay tuned. No promises but the wind may be about to change direction!"
"I guess it is time to end any further speculation that I will return to the air any time soon. I have given (2) very solid offers a lot of thought and have turned them down. My reasons are many, though I am profoundly sad at the current state of the show, both offers would have been direct competition with Coast and anger is the wrong reason to proceed. Also I really do not want to destroy what I built despite its current state. Asia will be in first grade in the Fall and getting up very early, I would be up late and sleeping late, I would not see much of her or Airyn. Life is short and I want to spend what I have left with my Family. I hope my friends understand..."
In June 2013, Bell announced on his Facebook page that his official website, artbell.com, would be relaunching. On July 10, 2013, a red, white, and blue textual representation of a smiley face was displayed on the website. The site's favicon is a picture of a grey alien. On July 11, 2013, the smiley face was replaced with a red, white, and blue Morse code script that translated to "Wanna take a ride?".
On July 29, 2013, Bell officially announced a return to the airwaves with a launch date of September 16, 2013. His new show Art Bell's Dark Matter was broadcast on SiriusXM satellite radio's Indie Talk channel (channel #104), Monday through Thursday from 7 PM to 11 PM PT with repeats during the remainder of the night and "best of" shows airing on Fridays. His official website was updated on that date to include the announcement.
On November 4, 2013, Bell left Dark Matter after only six weeks.
On November 7, 2013, Bell announced and began testing for potential Internet streaming sources.
Midnight in the Desert radio show
On July 20, 2015, Bell returned with his new show Midnight in the Desert. The show aired on the internet Dark Matter Digital network and on 45 stations (20 of which signed on before the show started) from 9 PM to midnight PT. He also started transmitting on shortwave radio on WTWW at 5.085 MHz as well.
On December 11, 2015, Bell announced that he had permanently stepped down as host of Midnight in the Desert due to concerns about his family's safety. Bell had reported multiple instances of someone shooting firearms at and near his property in the fall of 2015. The show Midnight in the Desert continued with new host Heather Wade, and shortly after Art's death Dave Schrader became the host. Bell made the occasional guest host appearance.
Death
Art Bell died April 13, 2018, at age 72 at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. An autopsy was scheduled for the following days to determine the cause of his death. He had suffered from health problems in the previous years. He posted on his website in July 2016 that he was hospitalized for pneumonia and revealed at the time that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On August 1, 2018, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the Clark County coroner's office findings. The coroner's office stated that Bell died of an accidental overdose from a cocktail of prescription drugs. The coroner's office determined he had four prescription medications in his system: the opioids oxycodone or Roxicet and hydrocodone or Vicodin, diazepam or Valium, and carisoprodol or Soma, a muscle-relaxant. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension also contributed to his death.
George Noory, current host of Coast To Coast AM, announced Bell's death and while struggling to keep his composure stated, "Art and I were not that close. We had our differences, but he was one of those instrumental in me being where I am right now."
Books
Bell wrote, or co-wrote, several books, including The Quickening: Today's Trends, Tomorrow's World; The Art of Talk (an autobiography); The Source: Journey Through the Unexplained; The Edge: Man's Mysterious Past & Incredible Future; and The Coming Global Superstorm (co-authored with Whitley Streiber), which became the basis for the popular movie, The Day After Tomorrow.
Other work
In 1996, Bell appeared in an episode of the NBC science fiction series Dark Skies as William S. Paley, head of CBS.
On September 30, 1998, NBC's Today Show aired a taped segment of reporter Fred Francis interviewing Bell. Francis questioned Bell about Hale-Bopp, Area 51, eccentric callers claiming to be "six-fingered alien hybrids", as well as the UFO sighting experienced by Bell and his wife Ramona.
In 1999, Bell appeared as himself on the series Millennium. The episode called "Collateral Damage" aired in the third season and dealt with a former U.S. soldier who claimed the government he fought for was indeed responsible for horrendous tests on soldiers and Iraqi civilians. (This episode was broadcast on January 22, 1999. The Washington Post, January 22, 1999.) In 1999 Bell was interviewed on Larry King Live. (This was broadcast on March 5, 1999. The Washington Post, March 5, 1999.)
Progressive rock band Tool's 2001 album, Lateralus, featured a track entitled "Faaip de Oiad" (Enochian for "The Voice of God"), which includes a clip of the "distraught and terrified" Area 51 employee call from September 11, 1997.
In 2005, Bell and then-wife Ramona were featured on the ABC News special: Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing Is Believing, which reported on the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. (This was broadcast on February 24, 2005. The Washington Post, 2-20-05.)
In 2005, snippets of Bell and callers to his show were featured on the song "Conspiracy Radio" on Sean Hogan's album Catalina Sunrise: Bell is credited for "voice-overs" on this track.
In 2006, Bell was featured in the video game Prey and played himself. He hosts, as in real life, Coast to Coast AM, and the player is able to listen to the broadcast at several terminals throughout the game. The broadcasts describe what is happening on Earth as the game unfolds. The game plot centers around a massive spaceship and alien abductions. Bell receives a number of calls about people who have seen smaller craft as they abduct people.
In 2007, Bell appeared as himself in the movie I Know Who Killed Me.
Bell appeared alongside Mark Arnold in the 2016 film titled Abduct, directed by Ilyas Kaduji and produced by Mafalda Sa. Bell plays himself as he and a group of friends try to help protect a young woman from an alien threat.
Notes
References
Further reading
Ronson, Jon. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004 ; Simon & Schuster, 2006 . Chapter 6, "Privatization," pp. 93–114.
External links
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"Befehlsnotstand (English: Necessity to obey orders) is a German legal term that refers to a situation in which a certain action is ordered that violates law, but where the refusal to carry out such an order would lead to drastic consequences, specifically danger to life or body, for the person refusing to carry out the order. \n\nThe concept of Befehlsnotstand was successfully used as a defence in World War II-related war crimes trials in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s but research into the subject since has proven that Befehlsnotstand as such did not exist, meaning German soldiers of the Wehrmacht or SS did not actually face drastic consequences if refusing such an order during the war. Refusing a lawful order did however result in consequences, with 23,000 German soldiers executed for refusing orders.\n\nEtymology\nBefehlsnotstand is a compound word, made up of the German words Befehl (command or order) and Notstand (emergency). The term has been translated into English by various sources as \"necessity to obey order\", \"a compulsion to obey orders\" or \"crisis created as a result of following orders\".\n\nNotstand in German law can be compared to necessity in the criminal law of other nations.\n\nGermany\n\nBackground\nIn German law, the situation Befehlsnotstand arises when a person refusing to carry out an unlawful order faces drastic consequences for the refusal. In such a situation, the person could not be prosecuted for carrying out the order. Drastic consequences, in German law, are defined as a danger to life or body, and are not defined as loss of rank, incarceration or removal to a penal unit, such as a Strafbataillon.\n\nNazi Germany\nThe term is commonly, but not exclusively, associated with German war crimes and the Holocaust during World War II, following which Befehlsnotstand was used as line of defence by the accused in post-war trials. In the 1950s and 1960s the use of Befehlsnotstand as a defence in war crimes trials in Germany was quite successful as it generally protected the accused from punishment. With the formation of the Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, this changed after historical research by the organisation regarding Einsatzgruppen of the Sicherheitsdienst or concentration camp personnel revealed that no known case could be cited where refusing an order did indeed result in severe punishment. More commonly, military personnel refusing such an order were transferred to a different unit. An example for this was Wehrmacht Captain Otto Freyer, who was transferred towards the end of the war to the Neuengamme concentration camp. Freyer was deemed too soft for his role, which included supervision of executions and commanding a sub-camp at Kaltenkirchen, and he was eventually transferred again at his own request.\n\nIn practice, refusing a superior order to participate in war crimes by German soldiers almost never led to dire consequences for the refusing person, and punishment, if any, was relatively mild. It usually resulted in degradation and being sent to serve with fighting units at the front. German historian Sven Felix Kellerhoff argued that, instead of fear of punishment the participants were more afraid of peer pressure and the possibility of exclusion from their group.\n\nKellerhoff further argued that the situation of Einsatzgruppen members taking part in massacres did not even constitute the lesser Putativnotstand, a state where the individual mistakenly believes their life is in danger if the order is disobeyed when, in reality, no such danger exists.\n\nManfred Oldenburg, in his book Ideology and Military Calculation, stated that there are no known cases where the refusal to participate in an execution of civilians has led to drastic consequences for soldiers of the Wehrmacht or SS. German soldiers did however face drastic consequences if refusing legal orders during the war. One and a half million German soldiers were sentenced to imprisonment for refusing to follow an order and 30,000 were sentenced to death, of whom 23,000 were executed.\n\nEast Germany\nBefehlsnotstand was also used as a defence by former East German border guards, tried after the German reunification in the , the trials of East German borders guards accused of unlawful killings of escapees at the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border as part of the Schießbefehl.\n\nCurrent German law\nIn current German law, articles § 34 and § 35 of the German penal code, the Strafgesetzbuch, govern the law on Notstand. Formerly it was governed by articles § 52 and 54.\n\nArticle 34 deals with Rechtfertigender Notstand, necessity as justification, while article 35 deals with Entschuldigender Notstand, necessity as excuse.\n\nIn other countries\n\nArgentina\nThe Law of Due Obedience (), a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship, translated in German as the Befehlsnotstandsgesetz (Gesetz meaning law in German), protected all officers and their subordinates of the armed forces and security forces from prosecution for most crimes committed during the dictatorship but was eventually annulled in 2005.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n \n \n \n\nFurther reading\n\nFurther reading \n\n Christopher Browning: Ordinary Men.\n Wolfram Wette: Zivilcourage. Empörte Helfer und Retter aus Wehrmacht, Polizei und SS. Fischer, 2004.\n Manfred Messerschmidt: Die Wehrmachtjustiz 1933-1945, 2005.\n Felix Römer: Kameraden. Die Wehrmacht von innen, 2012.\n Harald Welzer and Sönke Neitzel: Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying. The Secret World War II Transcripts of German POWs, 2012.\n\nMilitary law\nNazi war crimes\nGerman words and phrases\nCriminal defenses\nGerman law",
"Collateral consequences of criminal conviction are the additional civil state penalties, mandated by statute, that attach to a criminal conviction. They are not part of the direct consequences of criminal conviction, such as prison, fines, or probation. They are the further civil actions by the state that are triggered as a consequence of the conviction.\n\nIn some jurisdictions, a judge, finding a defendant guilty of a crime, can order that no conviction be recorded, thereby relieving the person of the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.\n\nIntroduction\nIf a defendant is found guilty of a crime or pleads guilty, the judge or other sentencing authority imposes a sentence. A sentence can take a number of forms, such as loss of privileges (e.g. driving), house arrest, community service, probation, fines and imprisonment. Collectively, these sentences are referred to as direct consequences – those intended by the judge, and frequently mandated at least in part by an applicable law or statute.\n\nHowever, beyond the terms of the sentence, a defendant can experience additional state actions that are considered by the state to be collateral consequences such as: disenfranchisement (in some countries this may be separately meted out), disentitlement of education loans (for drug charges in the United States), loss of a professional license, or eviction from public housing. These consequences are not imposed directly by the judge, and are beyond the terms of a sentence itself for the actual crime. Instead, they are civil state actions and are referred to as collateral consequences. In most jurisdictions, being charged with a crime can trigger state civil action in the form of an investigation to determine if the charges trigger the civil statutes that attach to the criminal charges. An example would be criminal charges that can trigger deportation, or the revocation of a professional license, such as a medical, nursing, or pharmacist license. Being subject to collateral consequences has been called a form of civil death.\n\nA person accused or convicted of a crime may suffer social consequences of a conviction, such as loss of a job and social stigma. These social consequences, whether or not they lead to convictions, can arise in countries where arrests and legal proceedings are matters of public record, thus disseminating the information about the event to the public to the detriment of the accused.\n\nCollateral consequences in Australia\nIn general, the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction are similar to those in other countries. A non-citizen who fails the character requirements of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection may:\n be denied entry or re-entry into Australia, if outside Australia\n have their visa cancelled, requiring them to leave or to be removed from Australia.\n\nCircumstances under which a non-citizen will fail the character test include one or more terms of imprisonment, totalling 12 or more months, whether the imprisonment took place in Australia or overseas.\n\nIn most jurisdictions, persons who are serving prison terms may be disqualified to vote.\n\nIn some jurisdictions, a judge, finding a person guilty of an offence, can order that no conviction be recorded, thereby relieving the person of the collateral and social consequences of a conviction.\n\nCollateral consequences in Canada\n\nCollateral consequences were defined by Justice Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada in R v Pham in 2013. Justice Wagner defined collateral consequences broadly, stating that they are \"any consequences for the impact of the sentence on the particular offender.\" He ruled that judges can take collateral consequences into account during the sentencing procedure, so long as the sentence they impose is proportionate and they do not impose \"inappropriate or artificial sentences\" that circumvent \"Parliament's will\". Justice Wagner also stated that, at least in the case of collateral consequences involving immigration, appellate courts can intervene to change a sentence if the trial judge was not aware that such a consequence would arise as a result of his or her sentence.\n\nThe issue arose in Pham because under Canadian federal law, a resident of Canada who is not a citizen can be removed from Canada if the person is convicted of certain types of criminal offences. The removal process is not part of the sentence for the criminal offence, and therefore is a collateral consequence. Once a non-resident person is required to leave Canada because of a criminal conviction, they are not entitled to come back to Canada unless they meet the rehabilitation requirements. A non-resident who is convicted of an offence carrying a life sentence is normally barred from Canada for life, if released from incarceration.\n\nR. v. Pham involved an offender whose sentence would have made him ineligible to appeal his deportation if it were not reduced in length by one day. Neither the sentencing judge nor the offender's lawyers were aware of the potential immigration consequences at the time of sentencing. At the Supreme Court, Justice Wagner concluded that, had the sentencing judge been aware of the collateral consequences, he or she would have imposed a sentence that avoided them. He therefore reduced the length of the offender's sentence by one day.\n\nFollowing the Supreme Court's decision in R. v. Pham, lower courts extended its applicability to other collateral consequences. For example, courts have held that stigma or the loss of employment following a conviction to be collateral consequences that can be taken into account during sentencing. The British Columbia Court of Appeal also ruled that a \"lifetime ban...from income and disability assistance as a result of conviction...\" is a collateral consequence and that a more lenient sentence may be imposed to avoid such a consequence.\n\nCollateral consequences in New Zealand\n\nCollateral consequences are generally, more or less, similar to those in the countries mentioned earlier. Any non-citizen to whom the following applies will generally not be allowed to reside in or visit New Zealand:\n deportation from any country\n a prison sentence, or series of such sentences, adding up to 5 or more years\n in the past 10 years, a sentence of imprisonment of 12 or more months (other than a sentence covered in (2) above).\n\nCollateral consequences in the United Kingdom\n\nSuch consequences can include:\nloss of professional licence (particularly within occupations covered by the Common Law Police Disclosure policy)\ndeportation (if not a citizen)\nloss of ability to obtain a heavy goods vehicle or passenger carrying vehicle licence after a conviction for some serious driving offences, particularly those causing death\nloss of ability to legally possess a firearm\n\nSome limitations are in place in England and Wales due to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, though this includes a number of exceptions.\n\nCollateral consequences in the United States\n\nOutline of collateral consequences\nIn the United States, collateral consequences can include loss or restriction of a professional license, ineligibility for public funds including welfare benefits and student loans, loss of voting rights, ineligibility for jury duty, and deportation for immigrants, including those who, while not American citizens, hold permanent resident status.\n\nIn general, all states impose such consequences. In all jurisdictions throughout the U.S., judges are not obligated to warn of these collateral consequences upon a finding of guilt by trial, or prior to an admission of guilt by plea agreement, except as regards deportation. Deportation has been made an exception by the Supreme Court in Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky.\n\nThere are currently few legal remedies available for these collateral consequences. In recent years, some governmental organizations have, however, discouraged actions that would cause unfairly harsh collateral consequences; for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) urges human resources managers not to automatically exclude all ex-convicts from employment consideration, particularly if they are members of minorities with disproportionate incarceration rates.\n\nEfforts to include collateral consequences in sentencing in the United States\nIf a defendant is punished beyond the sentence prescribed by law (that is, if collateral consequences do occur), the punishment is then more severe than that intended or warranted. In the worst case, this might violate protections under the United States Constitution, including the Eighth Amendment, which forbids \"cruel and unusual punishments\".\n\nThe Supreme Court of the United States addressed collateral consequences of criminal convictions as early as 1984. In Strickland v. Washington, the Court explored ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to collateral consequences of criminal convictions. In evaluating competence, the Court explained, judges should look at all relevant circumstances and evidence of appropriate measures of professional behavior, such as the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice (\"ABA Standards\"). The ABA Standards require defense lawyers to consider collateral consequences of conviction. Judges, accordingly, should monitor the performance of counsel. States chose to apply this rule in varying ways.\n\nStrickland encouraged but did not mandate consideration of collateral consequences. Some claim that structural incentives exist for lawyers to not elicit information relevant to collateral consequences because doing so may prolong a case; others note that no attorney or judge could predict any and all collateral consequences of a criminal conviction. Since Strickland did not require an analysis of collateral consequences, they generally are not regarded as cause to overturn criminal convictions. However, some argue that the Constitution should require consideration of collateral consequences.\n\nMost states do not accord equal legal effect to the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. For example, in New York the consideration of certain collateral consequences is merely discretionary, while the elucidation of direct consequences is required. For instance, in People v. Peque, New York's highest court overruled the portion of its prior ruling in People v. Ford that \"a court's failure to advise a defendant of potential deportation never affects the validity of the defendant's plea,\" but still held that a trial court had different duties with regard to direct versus collateral consequences of guilty pleas.\n\nLikewise, the Kentucky Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Fuartado, 170 S.W.3d 384 (Ky. 2005) held that the failure of defense counsel to advise a defendant of potential deportation did not give rise to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.\n\nRulings regarding deportation were superseded by Padilla v. Kentucky in 2010. \"... counsel must inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation.\" The United States Supreme Court held that the collateral consequence of deportation was a consequence of such great importance that failure by counsel to advise the defendant of deportation is ineffective assistance of counsel which is a constitutional protection under the Sixth Amendment. After Padilla, there has been significant litigation in the lower courts about whether attorneys are required to advise their criminal clients about other consequences of convictions.\n\nIn 2004, the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia assembled a document outlining some collateral consequences. \n\nIn May 2005, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the New York State Court of Appeals organized the Partners in Justice Colloquium to address the issue of collateral consequences. Judge Kaye formed a working group which, in partnership with the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at the Columbia University Law School, created a site that, for the first time, collects academic works, court opinions, and professionals' resources (by virtue of a message board and database) in one place. The Columbia University Law School in collaboration with the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning developed and a Collateral Consequences Calculator for looking up and comparing collateral consequences of criminal charges in New York State.\n\nIn 2009, the American Bar Association created the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction, a searchable database of the collateral consequences in all U.S. Jurisdictions. The National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction is supported by a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of the Justice. This project was initially supported by Award No.2009-IJ-CX-0102 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice and by the ABA Criminal Justice Section.\n\nIn Federal law, the federal sentencing guidelines have a model for collateral consequences which is determined by the date of when the offense was committed and by the type of the offense.\n\nSee also\n\nEmployment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States\nLoss of rights due to conviction for criminal offense\n\nPadilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Strickland v. Washington\n People v. Ford\n Commonwealth v. Fuartado, 170 S.W.3d 384 (Ky. 2005)\n The Collateral Consequences Calculator\n ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of Convicted Persons (3d ed. 2004)\n Uniform Law Commission, Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act (2009)\n\nUnited States criminal law\nCriminal justice ethics"
]
|
[
"Art Bell",
"Critical reputation",
"What did critics think of Bell's show?",
"Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO.",
"Was this before the famous suicide of cult members?",
"It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired,",
"Did he face any consequences?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_86006828a515445586309c48bcce4eab_0 | Has he been criticized for anything else? | 4 | Has Art Bell been criticized for anything else aside from reporting rumors about a UFO? | Art Bell | Fans regard Bell as a master showman, noting that he calls his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly says he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims but only offers a forum where they will not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006 edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use unscreened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future." He subsequently stopped screening calls upon his return to the United States. His calm attitude, patient questions, and ability to tease substance from nebulous statements of callers and guests gave his show a relaxed yet serious atmosphere. This earned him praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow have all been regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests, particularly Hoagland, continue to be regular guests on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory. Bell's own interests, however, extend beyond the paranormal. He has interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch. Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale-Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," and accordingly natural rather than artificial. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly.
In 2003, Bell semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM. During the following four years, he hosted the show for many weekends on Premiere Networks. He announced his retirement from weekend hosting in 2007, but occasionally served as a guest host through to 2010. Classic episodes of Coast to Coast AM can be heard in some radio markets on Saturday nights under the name Somewhere in Time hosted by Bell. He started a new nightly show, Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio, that aired for six weeks in 2013.
In 2015, he returned to radio with a new show Midnight in the Desert, which was available online via TuneIn as well as some terrestrial radio stations. He announced what would be his final retirement on December 11, 2015, citing security concerns at his home. He said that he and his family were subjected to repeated intrusions on his property in Pahrump, Nevada. The intrusions included gunshots, and he was in fear for his family's safety. He chose to leave the air and along with it public life because he believed that the intruder or intruders wanted him off the air.
Bell was the founder and original owner of Pahrump-based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. His broadcast studio and transmitter were located near his home in Pahrump, where he also hosted Coast to Coast AM.
Early life
Arthur William Bell III was born in North Carolina on June 17, 1945. Sources differ on whether he was born in Jacksonville or Camp Lejeune. He had a Lutheran background.
Bell was always interested in radio; at the age of 13, he became a licensed amateur radio operator. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is in the top U.S. Federal Communications Commission license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell served in the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War and in his free time operated a pirate radio station at Amarillo Air Force Base. He would make a point of playing anti-war music (like "Eve of Destruction" and "Fortunate Son") that was not aired on the American Forces Network.
After leaving military service, he remained in Asia, where he lived on the Japanese island of Okinawa. He worked as a disc jockey for KSBK, which was the only non-military English-language station in Japan. While there, he set a Guinness World Record by staying on the air for 116 hours and 15 minutes. The money raised there allowed Bell to charter a Douglas DC-8, fly to Vietnam, and rescue 130 Vietnamese orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually brought to the United States and adopted by American families.
Bell returned to the United States and studied engineering at the University of Maryland. He dropped out and returned to radio as a board operator and chief engineer, and had the opportunity to be on the air a few times. For several years, he worked behind and in front of the microphone. After a period of working in cable television, in 1986 the 50,000-watt KDWN in Las Vegas, Nevada, offered Bell a five-hour time slot in the middle of the night. Syndication of his program to other radio stations began in 1993.
Broadcasting career
Bell was a rock music disc jockey before he moved into talk radio. His original 1978 late-night Las Vegas program on KDWN was a political call-in show under the name West Coast AM. In 1988, Bell and Alan Corberth renamed the show Coast to Coast AM and moved its broadcast from the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas to Bell's home in Pahrump.
Bell abandoned conventional political talk in favor of topics such as gun control and conspiracy theories, leading to a significant bump in his overnight ratings. The show's focus again shifted significantly after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Many in the media did not want to be blamed for inciting anti-government or militia actions like the bombing. Subsequently, Bell discussed off-beat topics such as the paranormal, the occult, UFOs, protoscience and pseudoscience. During his tenure at KDWN Bell met and married his third wife, Ramona, who later handled production and management duties for the program.
An article in the February 23, 1997, edition of The Washington Post said that Bell was currently America's highest-rated late-night radio talk show host, broadcast on 328 stations. According to The Oregonian in its June 22, 1997, edition, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell was on 460 stations. At its initial peak in popularity, Coast to Coast AM was syndicated on more than 500 radio stations and claimed 15 million listeners nightly. Bell's studios were located in his home in the town of Pahrump, located in Nye County, Nevada; hence, the voice-over catchphrase, "from the Kingdom of Nye".
Critical reputation
Fans regarded Bell as a master showman, noting that he called his show "absolute entertainment" and expressly said he did not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims, but only offered a forum where they would not be openly ridiculed. Bell was one of only a few talk show hosts who did not screen incoming calls, but this changed in 2006. On the October 31, 2006, edition of Coast to Coast AM, (renamed for the night to Ghost to Ghost AM), Bell was asked why he was now using call-screeners. The explanation given was that for him to use un-screened open phone lines while in the Philippines would require listeners to call there directly at enormous cost to them. Art admitted that he should have chosen New Zealand instead of the Philippines as an alternative to the USA. He said, "It was a bad choice, and I'll regret it, one day, in the near future."
Bell has earned praise from those who declare that the paranormal deserves a mature outlet of discussion in the media as well as the approval of those simply amused by the nightly parade of bizarre, typically fringe topics. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, David John Oates, and Robert Bigelow were all regular guests. Some of Bell's regular guests continue to appear on Coast to Coast AM now hosted by George Noory.
Bell's own interests, however, extended beyond the paranormal. He interviewed singers Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Eric Burdon and Gordon Lightfoot, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, hard science fiction writer Greg Bear, X-Files writer/creator Chris Carter, TV talk host Regis Philbin, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, actor Dan Aykroyd, former Luftwaffe pilot Bruno Stolle, actress Jane Seymour, actress Ellen Muth, actor and TV host Robert Stack, human rights lawyer John Loftus, legendary disc jockey Casey Kasem, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomers Seth Shostak and H. Paul Shuch.
Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that Comet Hale–Bopp was being trailed by a UFO. Some speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others dismissed the idea, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." Susan Wright reported, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicize expert opinions refuting the 'alien' companion" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp, such as that published in 1998 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggesting that "the satellite's main diameter is ~30 km," (20 miles) and accordingly natural rather than artificial.
Callers and guests
On August 15, 1996, Bell interviewed William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries, in which Pierce—writing under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"—depicted a race war leading to the extermination of Jews, non-whites and gay people. Pierce denounced interracial marriage, calling white people who married non-whites "traitors to the white race"—apparently unaware that Bell himself was in an interracial marriage, as his then-wife, Ramona Bell, was an Asian-American of Filipino descent (his wife Airyn whom he married after Ramona's death was also Filipino).
One of Bell's Coast to Coast interviews occurred in 1997 with Mel Waters who discussed what is known as "Mel's Hole" in rural Washington State. The opening is said to be a fantastically deep vertical shaft which possesses bizarre properties. No such hole has ever been physically located by anyone attempting to verify this story.
A caller in 2000 named "Daniel Murray" claimed he was a Majestic Agent from Downey, California.
This call served as the inspiration for the alternate reality game Majestic.
A caller in September 1997 claimed he had discovered an unknown threat and conspiracy from Area 51, and his life was in danger by even talking about it. For unknown reasons, Bell lost connection to his transmitter during the call and, just as the caller's voice became more and more agitated, the entire broadcast dramatically went silent. A confused Bell restored the signal about 20 minutes later. The caller (or someone sounding similar) called in on a subsequent show and admitted it had been an elaborate hoax, which fooled many. Audio from the call was used in the Tool song "Faaip De Oiad," on the album Lateralus.
Amateur radio
Bell became a licensed amateur radio operator at the age of 13. His first call sign was KN3JOX, first listed in the Winter 1959 edition of the Radio Amateur Callbook. He soon upgraded to K3JOX, and he later held W2CKS, first listed in the Spring 1967 Callbook. Bell held an Amateur Extra Class license, which is the highest U.S. Federal Communications Commission amateur license class. His call sign was W6OBB.
Bell passed the Philippines amateur radio exams and became a Philippine Class A amateur radio operator with the call sign of 4F1AB. While in the Philippines, Bell was active on 40-10 Meters, as well as 144.600 MHz simplex in Manila.
Honors
In 1998, Bell was named as recipient of the Snuffed Candle Award by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Council for Media Integrity. Bell was recognized by the Council for "perpetuating conspiracy myths... and mystery mongering". When Bell learned of the award he replied "A mind should not be so open that the brains fall out, however it should not be so closed that whatever gray matter which does reside may not be reached. On behalf of those with the smallest remaining open aperture, I accept with honor."
In August 2006 Art was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He did not attend the presentation.
On March 10, 2007, Bell would be honored with the News/Talk Radio Lifetime Achievement Award from the trade publication Radio & Records in Los Angeles.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Marriages
Airyn Ruiz, April 11, 2006 – April 13, 2018 (his death). Children: Asia Rayne Bell and Alexander William Bell.
Ramona Lee Hayes, August 4, 1991 – January 5, 2006 (her death) † (see below)
Vickie L. Baker, married March 1, 1981, divorced, July 3, 1991. Children: Arthur William Bell IV
Sachiko Toguchi Bell Pontius, married 1965, divorced 1968. Children: Vincent Pontius, Lisa Pontius Minei.
Retirements and comebacks
Bell retired and returned to Coast to Coast AM several times.
On October 13, 1998, Bell announced his first retirement, which was highly unexpected by his listeners. He spoke of "an event, a threatening terrible event occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about. Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air." Hilly Rose filled in after Bell's departure. Bell returned on October 28, 1998, asserting that the brief departure was brought on by threats made against his family. On May 29, 1999, Bell explained that this retirement was due to an allegation made by hosts of WWCR shortwave radio that Bell had paid to cover up a criminal indictment. The facts of the matter became public knowledge in 2000, when the media revealed that an actual criminal indictment was filed against a person who had assaulted a member of Bell's family. Because of the nature of the crime, Bell had wanted to keep the matter private. Ted Gunderson, the former head of the Los Angeles FBI and the hosts at WWCR shortwave radio had accused Bell of the crime. Bell responded by taking legal action against Gunderson, as well as the hosts and stations. The action was resolved in a settlement in 2000.
On April 1, 2000, Bell again announced his retirement. He said that the event would occur on April 26, 2000, but offered no details other than expressing intentions to "resolve a family crisis." On April 11, 2000, Mike Siegel was introduced as the new host of Coast to Coast AM, taking over on April 27, to an estimated audience of 22 million listeners. The media later explained that Bell had left to deal with the aftermath of the kidnap and sexual assault of his son. Brian Lepley, a substitute teacher, was convicted of sexual assault and attempted transmission of HIV and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years. Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM in February 2001. Bell noted that since his departure the show had lost a number of affiliates, commercial content had risen to an unbearable level, and Siegel had taken the program in a "different direction" of which Bell disapproved. Bell retained some authority over the program as its creator and felt his return was necessary.
On October 23, 2002, Bell announced that he would retire due to recurring back pain, which was the result of a fall from a telephone pole during his youth. Bell was replaced by George Noory as weekday host of Coast to Coast AM on January 1, 2003. Those close to the matter also said that Barbara Simpson would host weekends and that Bell planned to be an occasional guest host for Noory. Bell returned in September 2003 as a weekend host, replacing Barbara Simpson and Ian Punnett as host of the Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. In June 2005, he scaled this schedule back, calling it a "semiretirement," and hosted only the last two Sundays of every month. Bell went back to hosting every weekend show as his schedule permitted after his wife Ramona's death a few months later.
On July 1, 2007, Bell announced his retirement, stating that he wished to spend more time with his new wife and daughter. He made it explicitly clear that, unlike the circumstances surrounding previous retirements, this decision was an entirely positive and joyful one and that he would not disappear completely, announcing an intention to occasionally substitute for other hosts and host "special" shows.
On December 11, 2015, Bell posted what would be his final retirement message via his Facebook page. He cited safety concerns for his family by saying "if one of them were harmed because of what I love doing my life would be over." Throughout the fall, Bell reported several incidents where an unknown number of armed trespassers came onto his property, sometimes firing gunshots. These events have been said to occur during or around the time of his broadcasting. This announcement came a mere five months after the start of his most recent show, Midnight in the Desert.
Events of 2006
Bell's life took some dramatic twists in the beginning of 2006:
Death of Ramona Bell
On January 5, 2006, Ramona Bell, his wife of 15 years, died unexpectedly at the age of 47 of what appeared to be an acute asthma attack in Laughlin, Nevada, where the couple had been taking a short vacation.
During the January 22 broadcast of Coast to Coast AM, Bell described in great detail the events surrounding his wife's death. For weeks thereafter, callers to the station would speak to George Noory and express their sadness and sympathy for Bell; Noory had taken Bell's place on weekdays beginning in 2002.
Change in schedule
On January 21, 2006, 16 days after the unexpected death of his wife Ramona, Bell announced he would host Coast to Coast AM every Saturday and Sunday evening, and that former weekend host Ian Punnett would work a new live prefeed program for the four hours preceding Bell's slot on Saturday nights (9:00 pm – 1:00 am ET).
New marriage
By the end of January, Bell began hinting that he was making a significant life decision, but that he would keep it a secret for at least one year, asking listeners to remind him in 2007 to let them in on it. By March, he was saying that he would soon take a "huge risk" and "do something rash". On April 15, 2006, he ended the mystery and, to the mild surprise of listeners, revealed that, after several weeks of mourning, he had recently gone to the Philippines and married Airyn Ruiz.
Return to "the High Desert and the Great American Southwest"
Bell opened his December 28, 2006, program by disclosing that he had just relocated back to Pahrump, Nevada, with Ruiz, who had obtained the necessary paperwork for immigrating to the United States.
Events of 2008
On May 29, 2008, Bell sold KNYE to Station Manager Karen Jackson.
On September 8, 2008, Noory stated that he would be hosting the annual Ghost to Ghost AM Halloween call-in show rather than Bell, who normally returns to the Coast to Coast to host it (along with the New Year's prediction shows).
On November 30, 2008, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM. Michio Kaku was the guest. This was the first time Bell had hosted the show since May 23, 2008.
Bell was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.
Events of 2009
Bell returned to Coast to Coast AM on February 20, 2009, for a discussion on the global financial crisis with Wall St. insider Michael J. Panzner. Bell and Panzner agreed the United States was headed for an economic depression.
Bell was scheduled to return to Coast to Coast AM on April 24, 2009, to host an evening of open lines, but because of engineering problems in Manila, Bell was rescheduled to a later date.
On May 17, 2009, Bell returned to host Coast to Coast AM live from Manila. His guest was professor Peter Ward. Topics of discussion were mass extinctions, Earth's "self-destructive" phenomena, and life beyond planet Earth. While on the air, Bell answered an email question from a listener who asked why he was in the Philippines again and how long he'd be there. Bell replied that he'd address it on "Friday" and hinted that his move might be permanent.
As of May 20, 2009, the Coast to Coast website listed that Bell would be filling in for George Noory on Friday, May 22, 2009, to interview Bob Koontz. However, Bell did not do that show. The Coast to Coast website, again, cited technical difficulties in Manila and that his interview would be postponed. Bell interviewed Koontz on Saturday, June 6, 2009.
Friday June 26, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Dean Radin. He also commented on the death of Michael Jackson and how he had lived in Pahrump, Nevada, not too far away from where Bell lived.
Friday November 20, 2009, Bell hosted Coast to Coast AM from Manila with guest Starfire Tor, psi researcher and experiencer who discussed time shifts and time slips, and other strange occurrences of time. During the first 90 minutes, they were joined by Whitley Strieber, who shared his take on Tor's research.
On Wednesday, December 30, and Thursday, December 31, 2009, Bell once again hosted his annual New Year's predictions special of Coast to Coast, noting that a number of the predictions this year were of an unusual and interesting nature and not mere repeats of many that had come before, though he also took several callers to task for seemingly veiling their obvious political agendas or wishes in the form of predictions, rather than offering up something from their "psychic center," which is what he repeatedly asks for during the prediction show. He also suggested that maybe Coast to Coast AM should institute some sort of prize or acknowledgment for listeners whose predictions are particularly accurate or astute.
Immigration controversy
In late 2008, Bell and his wife filed an I-751 petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of her marriage-based green card process. In early 2009 the USCIS responded that they would need additional evidence to prove that Bell's marriage to a Philippine national and subsequent green card application was in good faith. Bell responded with evidence including their marriage license, their daughter's birth certificate, Bell's last will and testament, bank records, family photos, and Social Security forms. Bell sent the package to the USCIS by return receipt mail, and he subsequently received the return receipt stamped "USCIS RECEIVED JAN-15-09."
On March 10, 2009, Bell and his wife and daughter left Nevada for Manila to deal with some family business including the disposition of a condo they owned. Shortly thereafter, the USCIS denied the application on the grounds that the documentary evidence was never received, and further stipulated that Airyn Bell is not permitted to re-enter the United States, which is why Bell remained in the Philippines. Moreover, since the Bells were out of the country when the application was denied, they were required to start the process all over again.
On his June 6 broadcast, Bell explained the situation and asked his listeners to send emails on his behalf to the White House.
Events of 2010–15
Bell hosted 10 episodes in 2010, 5 short of his publicly announced, contractually specified quota of 15 shows per year. His last hosting gig was his annual Ghost to Ghost show on Halloween night (this was the first show ever wherein Bell used call screeners). At the end of that broadcast, Bell said "When they next call my name we'll come back and we'll do this one more time."
As of December 2010, Bell was no longer listed as a host on the Coast to Coast website; his shows were no longer searchable under his name; and the only references to Bell on the site were of an historical/archival nature. However, the weekly Somewhere in Time with Art Bell broadcasts of classic Bell-hosted episodes (which have aired before the live show on Saturday nights since 2006) were not discontinued.
On December 21, 2010, the "HamCam" on Bell's ham radio website featured an image with the following cryptic wording: "The Wind No Longer Blows, in the End it was Without Direction. Long Live the Hot Air. 30" "-30-" is journalistic shorthand for "end of story."
It was announced in late December 2010 that Ian Punnett would host Bell's annual two-part New Year's Eve prediction shows. Initially, Noory had said that Bell was unable to host them because he would be traveling, but on December 24, 2010, Noory said: "We had asked Art to do his predictions show; he's going to spend time with his family. He's winding down, folks, he's winding down...I don't anticipate he'll do any more shows." On the first of the two nights (December 30, 2010), Punnett made a brief, oblique reference to his having the honor of "picking up [Bell's] fallen mantle." On the January 1, 2011, show, Punnett stated he was "looking forward to doing the follow-up a year from now."
In email interactions with fans who have written in to inquire about Bell's absence, Coast personnel confirmed that Bell had retired. According to Coast webmaster Lex Lonehood: "Art Bell decided he no longer wished to do live C2C shows, and asked that his name be removed from the host listings accordingly. Classics and Somewhere in Time shows will continue as is." Coast producer Lisa Lyon told another fan that Bell "has chosen to retire," but that "Art Bell will always be associated with our show, and he is welcome back to the mic whenever he feels the need."
Despite the above remarks from Punnett, Noory, Lyon, Lonehood and Bell, as of January 6, 2011, an official public statement formally confirming Bell's departure from Coast to Coast AM has yet to be made via press release, website announcement or on-air, by any party with the authority to do so—the show's producers, Premier Radio Networks, Clear Channel Communications, or Bell himself. This lack of information has led to rampant speculation among Bell's fanbase as to the motivations and circumstances behind Bell's sudden absence; whether he had given his last live broadcast; and what—if anything—he might decide to do next.
During a chat on February 8, 2011, events became even more confusing for Bell's fans as George Noory, during a public chat responding to a question regarding Bell, stated that Bell isn't responding to his emails. The questioner, "Coalspeaker," asked "Have you spoken to Art Bell lately? And if so is he and his family doing well?" Noory responded by saying, "No I haven't. Art has decided to retire for good this time. I assume all is well for him and his family. He has gone through many ups and downs. I sent him a very lengthy email a few months ago, and he never responded. Though he normally would." There was no further explanation beyond that point on why Bell did not respond to Mr. Noory's email, although it only led Bell's fanbase to speculate further.
In March 2011 a Facebook profile appeared claiming to be the legitimate page of "Arthur W. Bell III," who posted hints that there would be a "big announcement" at the end of April 2011. After much speculation and debate among fans and friends on that page and various Bell forums, and finally after direct intervention from a verified Bell account, the "Arthur W. Bell III" page was proven to be a hoax, with no "big announcement" imminent.
On July 20, 2011, Bell announced via his Facebook page that he had relocated with his family to Pahrump, Nevada. Subsequent posts indicate Bell and his family initially focusing on resettling his house and making it "fit for human habitation" again, giving no indication about his radio plans, if any (beyond maintaining his HAM activity). However, on July 30, Bell posted the following: "There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day. There are things going on in the background that I will talk about at the proper time. The move was a big one and we need time to adjust."
On August 19, 2011, Bell announced via Facebook "Phrase for the day...Stay tuned!", followed on August 31 by the message "Sorry for so few posts but we are working on this house every day like dogs, much more soon." Some Bell fans voiced speculation that the phrase "stay tuned" may have been meant to indicate Bell's return to broadcasting in some form, but 2011 ended with no such announcement forthcoming, though shortly before Christmas he did report that a malfunctioning fire extinguisher in his radio room caused tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage to his equipment and house.
On August 20, 2012, Bell spoke of his grievances with Premiere Networks, claiming that he would soon tell the full story of the truth of his retirement. "I am just about ready to tell the real story of my so-called 'Retirements'. I have asked Premiere to stop the Saturday broadcasts and thus far they have not done so, as is their legal right. Free speech remains my right. I will soon exercise it."
On November 1, 2012, Bell updated his Facebook status with the following: "I wish my name was no longer associated with what Coast has become!"
Return to radio in 2013
In January 2013, Bell announced on Facebook, "I am now in negotiation for a new Radio show, stay tuned. No promises but the wind may be about to change direction!"
"I guess it is time to end any further speculation that I will return to the air any time soon. I have given (2) very solid offers a lot of thought and have turned them down. My reasons are many, though I am profoundly sad at the current state of the show, both offers would have been direct competition with Coast and anger is the wrong reason to proceed. Also I really do not want to destroy what I built despite its current state. Asia will be in first grade in the Fall and getting up very early, I would be up late and sleeping late, I would not see much of her or Airyn. Life is short and I want to spend what I have left with my Family. I hope my friends understand..."
In June 2013, Bell announced on his Facebook page that his official website, artbell.com, would be relaunching. On July 10, 2013, a red, white, and blue textual representation of a smiley face was displayed on the website. The site's favicon is a picture of a grey alien. On July 11, 2013, the smiley face was replaced with a red, white, and blue Morse code script that translated to "Wanna take a ride?".
On July 29, 2013, Bell officially announced a return to the airwaves with a launch date of September 16, 2013. His new show Art Bell's Dark Matter was broadcast on SiriusXM satellite radio's Indie Talk channel (channel #104), Monday through Thursday from 7 PM to 11 PM PT with repeats during the remainder of the night and "best of" shows airing on Fridays. His official website was updated on that date to include the announcement.
On November 4, 2013, Bell left Dark Matter after only six weeks.
On November 7, 2013, Bell announced and began testing for potential Internet streaming sources.
Midnight in the Desert radio show
On July 20, 2015, Bell returned with his new show Midnight in the Desert. The show aired on the internet Dark Matter Digital network and on 45 stations (20 of which signed on before the show started) from 9 PM to midnight PT. He also started transmitting on shortwave radio on WTWW at 5.085 MHz as well.
On December 11, 2015, Bell announced that he had permanently stepped down as host of Midnight in the Desert due to concerns about his family's safety. Bell had reported multiple instances of someone shooting firearms at and near his property in the fall of 2015. The show Midnight in the Desert continued with new host Heather Wade, and shortly after Art's death Dave Schrader became the host. Bell made the occasional guest host appearance.
Death
Art Bell died April 13, 2018, at age 72 at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. An autopsy was scheduled for the following days to determine the cause of his death. He had suffered from health problems in the previous years. He posted on his website in July 2016 that he was hospitalized for pneumonia and revealed at the time that he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On August 1, 2018, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the Clark County coroner's office findings. The coroner's office stated that Bell died of an accidental overdose from a cocktail of prescription drugs. The coroner's office determined he had four prescription medications in his system: the opioids oxycodone or Roxicet and hydrocodone or Vicodin, diazepam or Valium, and carisoprodol or Soma, a muscle-relaxant. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension also contributed to his death.
George Noory, current host of Coast To Coast AM, announced Bell's death and while struggling to keep his composure stated, "Art and I were not that close. We had our differences, but he was one of those instrumental in me being where I am right now."
Books
Bell wrote, or co-wrote, several books, including The Quickening: Today's Trends, Tomorrow's World; The Art of Talk (an autobiography); The Source: Journey Through the Unexplained; The Edge: Man's Mysterious Past & Incredible Future; and The Coming Global Superstorm (co-authored with Whitley Streiber), which became the basis for the popular movie, The Day After Tomorrow.
Other work
In 1996, Bell appeared in an episode of the NBC science fiction series Dark Skies as William S. Paley, head of CBS.
On September 30, 1998, NBC's Today Show aired a taped segment of reporter Fred Francis interviewing Bell. Francis questioned Bell about Hale-Bopp, Area 51, eccentric callers claiming to be "six-fingered alien hybrids", as well as the UFO sighting experienced by Bell and his wife Ramona.
In 1999, Bell appeared as himself on the series Millennium. The episode called "Collateral Damage" aired in the third season and dealt with a former U.S. soldier who claimed the government he fought for was indeed responsible for horrendous tests on soldiers and Iraqi civilians. (This episode was broadcast on January 22, 1999. The Washington Post, January 22, 1999.) In 1999 Bell was interviewed on Larry King Live. (This was broadcast on March 5, 1999. The Washington Post, March 5, 1999.)
Progressive rock band Tool's 2001 album, Lateralus, featured a track entitled "Faaip de Oiad" (Enochian for "The Voice of God"), which includes a clip of the "distraught and terrified" Area 51 employee call from September 11, 1997.
In 2005, Bell and then-wife Ramona were featured on the ABC News special: Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing Is Believing, which reported on the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. (This was broadcast on February 24, 2005. The Washington Post, 2-20-05.)
In 2005, snippets of Bell and callers to his show were featured on the song "Conspiracy Radio" on Sean Hogan's album Catalina Sunrise: Bell is credited for "voice-overs" on this track.
In 2006, Bell was featured in the video game Prey and played himself. He hosts, as in real life, Coast to Coast AM, and the player is able to listen to the broadcast at several terminals throughout the game. The broadcasts describe what is happening on Earth as the game unfolds. The game plot centers around a massive spaceship and alien abductions. Bell receives a number of calls about people who have seen smaller craft as they abduct people.
In 2007, Bell appeared as himself in the movie I Know Who Killed Me.
Bell appeared alongside Mark Arnold in the 2016 film titled Abduct, directed by Ilyas Kaduji and produced by Mafalda Sa. Bell plays himself as he and a group of friends try to help protect a young woman from an alien threat.
Notes
References
Further reading
Ronson, Jon. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004 ; Simon & Schuster, 2006 . Chapter 6, "Privatization," pp. 93–114.
External links
1945 births
2018 deaths
Accidental deaths in Nevada
Amateur radio people
American radio DJs
American radio executives
American talk radio hosts
Businesspeople from Nevada
Coast to Coast AM
Deaths from hypertension
Deaths from lung disease
Drug-related deaths in Nevada
Military personnel from North Carolina
Non-fiction environmental writers
People from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
People from Jacksonville, North Carolina
People from Pahrump, Nevada
People from Watsonville, California
Radio personalities from Nevada
Ufologists
United States Air Force airmen
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Writers from Nevada
Writers from North Carolina
20th-century American businesspeople | false | [
"Arborescent () is a term used by the French thinkers Deleuze and Guattari to characterize thinking marked by insistence on totalizing principles, binarism, and dualism. The term, first used (in western philosophy) in A Thousand Plateaus (1980) where it was opposed to the rhizome, comes from the way genealogy trees are drawn: unidirectional progress, with no possible retroactivity and continuous binary cuts (thus enforcing a dualist metaphysical conception, criticized by Deleuze). Rhizomes, on the contrary, mark a horizontal and non-hierarchical conception, where anything may be linked to anything else, with no respect whatsoever for specific species: rhizomes are heterogeneous links between things that have nothing to do between themselves (for example, Deleuze and Guattari linked together desire and machines to create the - most surprising - concept of desiring machines). Horizontal gene transfer is also an example of rhizomes, opposed to the arborescent evolutionism theory. Deleuze also criticizes the Chomsky hierarchy of formal languages, which he considers a perfect example of arborescent dualistic theory.\n\nReferences\n\nConcepts in the philosophy of mind\nPostmodern theory\nFélix Guattari\nGilles Deleuze",
"\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" is a song written by Billy Livsey and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in February 2001 as the third and final single from his self-titled album. The song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in July 2001. It also peaked at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.\n\nContent\nThe song is about man who is giving his woman the option to leave him. He gives her many different options for all the things she can do. At the end he gives her the option to stay with him if she really can’t find anything else to do. He says he will be alright if she leaves, but really it seems he wants her to stay.\n\nChart performance\n\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of March 3, 2001.\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2001 singles\n2000 songs\nGeorge Strait songs\nSongs written by Billy Livsey\nSongs written by Don Schlitz\nSong recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer)\nMCA Nashville Records singles"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South"
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | What is Punching Bag? | 1 | What is Punching Bag? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"A punching bag (or, British English, punchbag) is a sturdy bag designed to be repeatedly punched. A punching bag is usually cylindrical, and filled with various materials of corresponding hardness.\n\nHistory\n\nPunching bags have been used in martial arts and swordplay for the entire written history of military training. Similar apparatus in Asian martial arts include the Okinawan makiwara and the Chinese mook jong, which may have padded striking surfaces attached to them.\n\nIn martial arts and combat sports—such as karate, sanda, taekwondo, and Muay Thai—\"heavy\" bags, standing bags, and similar apparatuses have been adapted for practicing kicking and other striking maneuvers in addition to developing punching technique.\n\nConstruction\nPunching bags are often filled with grains, sand, rags, or other material, and are usually hung from the ceiling or affixed to a stand. Other bags have an internal bladder to allow them to be filled with air or water. The design of a punching bag allows it to take repeated and constant physical abuse without breaking. The bag must also absorb the impact of blows without causing harm to the user.\n\nTypes\nThere are different types of punching bags, with different names based on their size, use and mounting method. Almost all punching bags are covered with either leather or synthetic materials such as vinyl which resist abrasion and mildew. Canvas can also be used as a bag material where there is lower use and humidity.\n\n \nSpeed bags (AKA, speedballs) are small, air-filled bags anchored at the top to a rebound platform parallel to the ground. Speed bags help a fighter learn to keep his or her hands up, improve hand-eye coordination, and learn to shift weight between feet when punching. They are also known as speedballs or speed ball bags. They are generally filled with air and fitted around a tight PU-based or leather material. They come in various sizes, ranging from the large 13×10″ (33×25 cm) and 12×9″, midsize 11×8″, 10×7″ (25×18 cm) and 9×6″, to the small 8×5″, 7×4″ and 6×4″ (15×10 cm). Generally the larger the bag, the slower it is and the more force is required to keep it going. Large bags are used more for building strength and endurance, while smaller bags allow the training athlete to focus on faster hand speed, timing and coordination. Beginners might view this bag more as a \"control bag\", not a speed bag, for they will not be able to punch both quickly and repetitively until they gain control over their swinging force and speed. \n\nA boxer normally hits the speed bag from the front with his or her fists, but it is also possible to use fists and elbows to hit the bag from all around it, including the front, back and sides. In this method the user may perform many diverse punching combinations that create improvised rhythmic accents.\n\nAlthough speed bags are normally hung vertically, recently the additional method of hanging a bag horizontally on a wall has regained popularity. This was very popular during the early twentieth century, specifically the 1920s–1940s era. The same punching skills may be used on the horizontal bag that are used when it hangs vertically. A coordination bag is a new type of speed bag that moves unpredictably rather than rhythmically. Additionally, due to the tedious mounting and anchoring necessary when installing a traditional speed bag platform, a portable speed bag platform that installs in a doorway has been created. Designed so that downward pressure stabilizes this portable speed bag platform, it can be installed and removed through a tension system that allows for use in any doorway.\n\nSwerve balls/floor-to-ceiling balls/double-end bags are almost the same as speed bags, with the only differences being that the bag' size, shape and material may be different, and that the cable system is attached to both the ceiling and a clip on the floor — when the boxer makes any strike on the ball, it reacts by swinging fast towards them, the object being to swerve, punch, dodge and improve co-ordination. The harder and faster these bags are hit, the more they rebound and react in different motions and angles, thus giving broader practice to the fighter. Double-floor to ceiling balls which allow for training body-head combinations also exist\n\nMaize bags or slip bags are not punched with great force, but are used in boxing training to improve the athlete's head motion and ability to evade an opponent's punch, their name deriving from the fact that traditionally they are filled with maize.\n\nA heavy bag is a larger, cylindrical bag, usually suspended by chains or ropes and used for practicing powerful body punches, and can be used to toughen hands or any other limb used to hit the bag. Heavy bags are for developing power; technique is best learned on the punch mitts or pads. Some variants of heavy bag are a Banana Bag used in Muay Thai, which is longer than a regular heavy bag and is used to train low kicks and knee strikes, and a slim line bag that is thinner than a heavy bag.\n\nFreestanding heavy bags are heavy bags mounted on a weighted pedestal rather than being hung from above. The base is typically filled with sand or water to give more stability to the bag and prevent it from moving around. While they serve the same purpose as hanging heavy bags, they can also be toppled over and used for ground-and-pound practice. Other variations on the standard heavy bag include horizontal suspension from both ends to practice uppercut punches, and non-cylindrical shapes. Freestanding reflex bags (freestanding speed bags) also exist.\n\nUppercut bags began to appear towards the beginning of the 21st century. With so many different variations of bags and training equipment for boxing taking off, the uppercut bag was and is still a common sight in clubs and gyms. \n\nDesigned for uppercut practice, jabbing, curl punching and quick bursts of high and low punching practice, it allows the fighter to punch at different lengths, different speeds and different forces compared to the standard average 4-foot straight PU (polyurethane) punching bags. Some types of uppercut bags: An angle bag a variant of uppercut bag used for training hooks and uppercuts; an uppercut horizontal punching tag, teardrop bag, body snatcher/wrecking ball bag or bowling pin bag are used for training knees and uppercuts.\n\nA wall bag is a type of bag that is attached to a wall and can be used for training hooks and uppercuts.\n\nBody-shaped training aids such as the modern \"body opponent bag\" are made primarily of synthetic materials, and punching bags are sometimes mounted on a weighted pedestal rather than hanging from above. These bags try to simulate a live opponent while providing an opportunity to practice vital area strikes which are generally unsafe to perform on a sparring partner. These are not considered punching bags in the strict sense, but modern versions of apparatus such as the wooden man apparatus of Chinese Wing Chun, the medieval quintain, and target dummies used in modern bayonet training. Large inflatable balloons with weighted bases are another kind of punching bag, often painted with a picture and sold as a children's toy.\n\nSafety precautions\n\nHeavy bags are typically filled with dense material which have little \"give\" (e.g. packed sand, grains, etc.); in order to avoid injury, hand protection (boxing gloves, bag gloves, training gloves, hand wraps, etc.) is used during practice.\n\nPowerful strikes to the heavy bag are not recommended for inexperienced, or younger athletes (<18 female, <21 male), as risk of sprain, strain, or bone-plate damage may adversely affect bone structures. It is highly recommended to carefully focus strikes to reduce chance of injury (such as boxer's fracture).\n\nSee also\n\nStrength tester machine – some of these machines utilize a punching bag\n\nReferences\n\nArticles containing video clips\nBoxing\nExercise equipment\nMartial arts equipment",
"X-Ray Vision is a 7\", 33⅓ rpm EP released by The Moldy Peaches. There are three copyright dates listed on the album: 1994, 1995, and 1996. An insert inside the album states that Adam Green was the sole member of The Moldy Peaches at the time of the recording. However, future member Kimya Dawson is listed on the credits of the album and sings lead on \"Little Bunny Foo Foo.\" Each record is numbered and there are 300 copies.\n\nTrack listing\n Rap Sux! - Ft. Joel\n Little Bunny Foo Foo - Ft. Kimya\n On Top\n I Wish I Was Ben Lee\n Flea Circus\n Moldy Peaches in Da House\n Punching Bag - Ft. Joel\n\nCredits \n\n Adam: Recorded & Produced By\n Kimya: Vocals on 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'\n Joel: Drums on 'Rap Sux!' & 'Punching Bag'\n Denise: Bass on 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'\n Kurt: Drums on 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'\n\n1996 debut albums\nThe Moldy Peaches albums"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville"
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | When was this released? | 2 | When was Punching Bag released? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | June 12, 2012 | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"When the Bough Breaks is the second solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. It was originally released on April 27, 1997, on Cleopatra Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Hate\" – 5:00\n\"Children Killing Children\" – 3:51\n\"Growth\" – 5:45\n\"When I was a Child\" – 4:54\n\"Please Help Mommy (She's a Junkie)\" – 6:40\n\"Shine\" – 5:06\n\"Step Lightly (On the Grass)\" – 5:59\n\"Love & Innocence\" – 1:00\n\"Animals\" – 6:32\n\"Nighthawks Stars & Pines\" – 6:45\n\"Try Life\" – 5:35\n\"When the Bough Breaks\" – 9:45\n\nCD Cleopatra CL9981 (US 1997)\n\nMusicians\n\nBill Ward - vocals, lyrics, musical arrangements\nKeith Lynch - guitars\nPaul Ill - bass, double bass, synthesizer, tape loops\nRonnie Ciago - drums\n\nCover art and reprint issues\n\nAs originally released, this album featured cover art that had two roses on it. After it was released, Bill Ward (as with Ward One, his first solo album) stated on his website that the released cover art was not the correct one that was intended to be released. Additionally, the liner notes for the original printing had lyrics that were so small, most people needed a magnifying glass to read them. This was eventually corrected in 2000 when the version of the album with Bill on the cover from the 70's was released. The album was later on released in a special digipak style of case, but this was later said to be released prematurely, and was withdrawn.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Bill Ward's site\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Black Sabbath Online\n\nBill Ward (musician) albums\nBlack Sabbath\n1997 albums\nCleopatra Records albums",
"\"When It Rains, It Really Pours\" is a song originally written and recorded by Billy \"The Kid\" Emerson. His version, titled \"When It Rains It Pours\", was released by Sun Records in 1954. The song was later recorded by Elvis Presley in 1957, but not released until 1965 on the album Elvis for Everyone.\n\nEmerson's version\nThe song was recorded on October 27, 1954 at Sun Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Sam Phillips was the producer. It was released on January 8, 1955 as Sun 214, as the B-side to the song \"Move Baby Move\" which did not chart.\n\nPersonnel at the season were Emerson, piano: Elven Parr, guitar: Robert Prindell, drums: Charles Smith, alto sax: Bennie Moore, tenor sax: and Luther Taylor, trumpet.\n\nPresley's recordings\nPresley had initially attempted to record the song while at Sun Records in November 1955, with Elvis and Scotty Moore on guitars, Bill Black on bass and Johnny Bernero on drums, but it was never completed as his contract with Sun was sold to RCA Records around the same time. The tapes of all Presley's Sun recordings were handed to RCA as part of the deal, with most of them being included on albums released shortly afterwards. Presley's 1955 recording of \"When It Rains, It Really Pours\", however, was not released. It was lost for several years until 1982 when it was found and finally released officially on the 1983 compilation album Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 4.\n\nPresley was recorded performing the song during the Million Dollar Quartet session on December 4, 1956.\n\nOn February 24, 1957 Presley again recorded the song, this time for RCA. This version also went unreleased until it appeared on the 1965 album Elvis for Everyone. The musicians on this session were Moore and Presley on guitars, Black on bass, Fontana on drums, Dudley Brooks on piano and the Jordanaires singing backup.\n\nIn 1968, during rehearsals for the television special Elvis, Presley was recorded singing it as a potential song for the show. Although the song was not chosen for the special, the rehearsal was released on The Complete '68 Comeback Special CD released in 2008.\n\nReferences\n\nElvis Presley songs\n1954 songs\nSongs written by Billy \"The Kid\" Emerson"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012"
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | What are some songs from this album? | 3 | What are some songs from the album, Punching Bag? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | preceded by the single "Time Is Love". | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"\"Cocaine Decisions\" is a 1983 single by American musician Frank Zappa, from the album The Man from Utopia. A live version was on the album You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3. It was played in concert from 1981 to 1984.\n\nMeaning\nZappa had many antidrug songs including \"Who Needs the Peace Corps?\" from We're Only in It for the Money, \"Cosmik Debris\" from Apostrophe ('), \"Charlie's Enormous Mouth\" from You Are What You Is, and \"I Come From Nowhere\" from Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. Though unlike the hippies, drug dealers, youth, and junkies the targets of this song are instead the rich Wall Street executives, doctors, and lawyers. Specifically the lyrics \"But if you are wasted from the stuff you're stickin' in it. I get madder every day 'cause what you do 'n' what you say affects my life in such a way. I learn to hate it every minute!\" are targeted at Zappa's own producers and studio executives. The vocals display a tone of hatred making it one of Zappa's more aggressive songs. In 2000, the CMJ Music Marathon magazine jokingly stated that \"Cocaine Decisions\" would be a great song to characterize presidential candidate George W. Bush.\n\nRiot\nDuring a concert in Palermo, Italy in 1982, a riot occurred during \"Cocaine Decisions\" in which the police shot tear gas into the crowd. Zappa was reported stating \"We played for an hour and a half with tear-gas in our face and everything else, and when it was all over we went off stage and we were trapped inside this place\". The riot inspired the back cover of the album The Man From Utopia.\n\nTrack list\nA.\"Cocaine Decisions\" - 2:56 \nB.\"SEX\" - 3:00\n\nReferences\n\n1983 songs\n1983 singles\nFrank Zappa songs\nSongs written by Frank Zappa\nComedy rock songs\nSong recordings produced by Frank Zappa\nSongs about cocaine\nPolitical songs\nSatirical songs",
"Future Memories is the seventh studio album by German artist ATB, released on May 1, 2009.\n\nJust like Two Worlds (2000) and Trilogy (2007) before it, this album also features two CDs. The first CD consists of dance songs, while the second one features chill-out tunes. Similarly to Trilogy, Future Memories also features 26 tracks in total and is released in two different versions: a normal one with two CDs, and a limited edition, which includes a DVD.\n\nOn the iTunes version of the album there are two bonus tracks, a full-length club remix of \"L.A. Nights\" and a 12-minute minimix featuring most songs from the album. This minimix was used to promote the album on YouTube.\n\nOverview\nATB made almost all announcements concerning this new album on his MySpace blog. The first thing he said was that the album would not be promoted in the old-fashioned way, and a single would not be released before the album. Instead, there would be three tracks released at the same time (two of which are \"What About Us\" and \"L.A. Nights\") to represent the main album, and all three of them were going to have their own music videos. Also, four tracks on the album were going to have more than 160 beats per minute (bpm), rare in ATB's songs, but they were not anything close to the hardcore genre. The reason for some of the songs' high bpm was that for the first time in ATB's repertoire, he has incorporated drum and bass elements into some of the songs such as \"What About Us\" and \"My Everything\".\n\nThe opening to the song \"Gravity\" is similar melodically to the opening track on ATB's first album Movin' Melodies, entitled \"The First Tones\".\n\nOn March 30, 2009, ATB published a preview on YouTube that featured 10 selected tracks from the album, including \"What About Us\", \"My Everything\", \"Summervibes with 9PM\" and others.\n\nMany singers and artists collaborated with ATB on this album, including Josh Gallahan, Haley Gibby (from Summer of Space), Betsie Larkin, Aruna, Tiff Lacey, Roberta Carter-Harrison (from Wild Strawberries), Apple&Stone, Jades and Flanders.\n\nTrack listing\nATB announced the official track list on March 27, 2009, on his MySpace blog.\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nCharts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Future Memories cover\n ATB's MySpace Blog\n ATB's official website\n\n2009 albums\nATB albums"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\"."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Was this song popular? | 4 | Was the song "Time Is Love" popular? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"\"May There Always Be Sunshine\" ( or ) is a popular Soviet children's song created in 1962. The music was composed by Arkady Ostrovsky and the lyrics written by Lev Oshanin. Korney Chukovsky, a writer and immensely popular children's poet, later wrote that the inspiration for the song had been the four lines of the refrain, which were composed in 1928 by the four-year-old boy Kostya Barannikov.\n\nThe song was first performed in the Good Morning! () radio show in July 1962 by Maya Kristalinskaya. Performed in 1963 at the Sopot International Song Festival by Tamara Miansarova, the song earned her first prize there and immediately became popular throughout the USSR and in other countries too. It was frequently sung by Young Pioneers at their camps and school meetings, as well as by Little Octobrists in primary schools, and even by pre-school children. The song was widely regarded in the Soviet Union as expressing the people's desire for peace.\n\nLyrics \nThe song expresses the yearning for lasting peace by millions of people, young and old. In war, the lyrics say, there are no winners. For our sake, and especially for our children's sake, we must achieve peace and remove the dark clouds that now cover the sun.\n\nInternational versions \nThe song was translated into English by Tom Botting. The song (or at least its chorus) has been sung in English by Pete Seeger, and is featured on the live album Together in Concert recorded in 1975 with Arlo Guthrie.\n\nThe song was translated into German by Ilse and Hans Naumilkat and Manfred Streubel (as \"Immer lebe die Sonne\") and was popular among Ernst Thälmann Pioneers.\n\nThe song was also very popular among Finnish Pioneers as \"Paistaa aurinko aina\".\n\nIt was also used by the Estonian Pioneers, the Estonian translation being \"Olgu jääv meile päike\" by Heljo Mänd. The most popular recording of it, is by the popular singer Georg Ots.\n\nHebrew lyrics were written for the song by composer Gidi Koren. It was recorded (Hebrew title: אלוהים שמור על אמא) and made popular by his Israeli folk group, The Brothers and the Sisters.\n\nIn popular culture \nThe tune was used in the song \"Gabrielle\" by the Hootenanny Singers, led by Björn Ulvaeus. When this version became a hit in 1964, the lyrics were translated and performed by the group in Swedish, German, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, and English.\n\nCharlotte Diamond, the Canadian children's musician included the song in her 1985 album 10 Carrot Diamond. The chorus is sung in English, Russian, French, Spanish, German, and Cantonese with the instrumental accompaniment changing musical styles for each culture.\n\nRaffi sang the original chorus and translations into English, Spanish and French on his album Let's Play. There is also an instrumental outro of the other song's title after this song.\n\nThis song was included in a medley during the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.\n\nIn 2021, a rock version of this song was created for the cinematic trailer for the mobile WW2 game \"Warpath\"\n\nSee also\n List of anti-war songs\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n Eintrag im Songlexikon \n\nRussian children's songs\n1962 songs\n1962 in the Soviet Union\nVladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization\nPioneer movement\nSoviet songs\nAnti-war songs",
"Fwa Bagha Re (English: Fearless flying jump of the Tiger) is a Garhwali folk song in Garhwali language which was composed by Chander Singh Rahi and written by Surdas Jhaggi. This Garhwali song was composed, written and first performed in the early 1980s and was not very popular until 2019, when it was recreated Late Pappu Karki, Kalpana Chauhan and Sandeep Sonu after which it became the popular in whole Uttarakhand. This song is based on the several human killings\ndone by a leopard in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. These killings and incidents are all published in a book named \"The Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag\" by Jim Corbett.\n\nComposition\nChander Singh Rahi, the legendary Garhwali singer composed this song which was often recited and sung by a person named \"Surdas Jhaggi\" at Kotdwar\nRailway Station. It was sung on stage for the first time by Chander Singh Rahi at a video recording for th label \"Neelam Uttarakhandi\". It was not popular in the whole Uttarakhand and its popularity remained limited to a region of Garhwal until 2019. In 2019, when the song was recreated by Pappu Karki, Kalpana Chauhan and Sandeep Sonu, it became one of the all-time hits of Garhwali songs.\n\nLyrics\n\nBackground \nThis song was written and sung to describe the time when a tiger was active around the Lansdowne region of Garhwal, Uttarakhand. This tiger did several human killings and even created an environment of chaos and scare among the soldiers. This story can also be traced around 1920–25 when a man-eating leopard called Leopard of Rudraprayag was active in Garhwal and had reportedly killed around 125 people.\n\nReferences\n\nCulture of Uttarakhand"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Did this song win any awards? | 5 | Did the song "Time Is Love" win any awards? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"The Star Awards for Best Theme Song is an award presented annually at the Star Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1994.\n\nThe category was introduced in 1997, at the 4th Star Awards ceremony; Sebastian Tan received the award for his theme song, 《和平的代价》 in The Price of Peace and it is given in honour of a theme song in a Mediacorp drama serial which has delivered an outstanding overall performance. The nominees are determined by a team of judges employed by Mediacorp. Prior to 2014, winners are selected by a majority vote from the entire judging panel. This rule was amended from 2014 onwards such that winners are selected by a majority vote from both the entire judging panel and the public via online voting.\n\nSince its inception, the award has been given to 14 performers or performer groups. Kelvin Tan was the most recent winners in this category for their theme song, 《守护你的善良》 in You Can Be An Angel 3. Since the ceremony held in 2016, The Dream Makers is the only drama theme song to win in this category twice. In addition, Perfect Cut , The Unbeatables & Blessings are the dramas theme song that have been nominated on two occasions, more than any other drama theme songs. They also hold the record for the most nominations without a win.\n\nRecipients\n\n Each year is linked to the article about the Star Awards held that year.\n\nMultiple wins and nominations\n\nThe following Dramas Theme Songs received two or more Best Drama Theme Songs awards: \n\nThe following Dramas Theme Songs received two or more Best Drama Theme Songs nominations:\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\nStar Awards",
"\"Wasn't It Good\" is a song by Tina Arena from her 1994 album Don't Ask. Arena co-wrote the song along with Heather Field and Robert Parde, and it was produced by David Tyson. The song peaked at number 11 in Australia and received four nominations at the prestigious ARIA Awards in 1996. Upon release as a single, the title was rendered with an ellipsis (\"Wasn't It Good...\").\n\nArena has performed the song on most tours, including her 2004 Greatest Hits tour and 2012 Australian tour. It is track four on her 2004 Greatest Hits compilation.\n\nMusical and lyrical content\n\"Wasn't It Good\" was composed in the key of G, while the lyrics lament a past friendship that did not turn into a romantic relationship.\n\nTrack listing\nA five-track single was released through Columbia Records; it contained both the single edit and original album version of \"Wasn't It Good\", as well as live versions of three other tracks from Don't Ask.\n\n \"Wasn't It Good\" (single version)\n \"Greatest Gift\" (live)\n \"Love Is the Answer\" (live)\n \"Message\" (live)\n \"Wasn't It Good\" (album version)\n\nChart\n\"Wasn't It Good\" was released on 18 September and debuted at #42 on the ARIA singles chart, eventually peaking at #11 on 19 November 1995.\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertification\n\nAward nominations\n\nARIA Awards\nThe ARIA Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). \"Wasn't It Good\" was nominated in four categories, including Single of the Year. It did not win any awards.\n\n|-\n| rowspan=\"4\"| 1996 || \"Wasn't It Good\" || Best Female Artist || \n|-\n| \"Wasn't It Good\" || Best Pop Release || \n|-\n| \"Wasn't It Good\" || Single of the Year || \n|-\n| \"Wasn't It Good\" || Song of the Year || \n|-\n\nAPRA Awards\nThe Australasian Performing Right Association have presented the APRA Awards annually from 1982; \"Wasn't It Good\" was nominated in 1996 and won the Song of the Year.\n\n|-\n| 1996 || \"Wasn't It Good\" || Song of the Year || \n|-\n\nReferences\n\n1995 singles\nAPRA Award winners\nTina Arena songs\nColumbia Records singles\nSongs written by Tina Arena\n1994 songs\nPop ballads"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Are there any other songs from this album? | 6 | Are there any songs from the album Punching Bag in addition to "Time Is Love"? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"Enchanted Piano is the ninth studio album from American new-age pianist Kevin Kern, and his tenth overall (excluding territory-exclusive albums). As with his preceding and succeeding albums, it is an album of instrumental songs. It was released on January 17, 2012.\n\nUnlike Kern's past albums, this album breaks away from his other in the way that it is recorded solely on the piano; as such, there are no other instruments whatsoever on the album. In addition to this, these songs are re-recorded versions of past Kern compositions that appeared on his previous albums; none of the songs here are new.\n\nNone of the songs from In My Life (1999), The Winding Path (2003), or Endless Blue Sky (2009) were re-recorded for this album.\n\nTrack listing\nAll compositions by Kevin Kern.\n\nPersonnel \n Kevin Kern – Steinway piano, producer, composer, arrangement\n Terence Yallop – executive producer\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n Kevin Kern at Real Music\n\nEnchanted Piano\nKevin Kern albums",
"Punk Rock Songs (The Epic Years) is a compilation album by Bad Religion, released in 2002. All songs on this compilation are from their tenure on Atlantic and Epic Records from 1994 to 2000, in addition to four live tracks and both the English and German versions of \"Punk Rock Song\". Punk Rock Songs was released by Epic without any input from the band members, as Bad Religion had already returned to Epitaph Records, and as of 2017, it has not been released in the United States.\n\nBackground\nWhile the first Bad Religion compilation album All Ages contains material from their 1982 debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse? to 1992's Generator, Punk Rock Songs almost takes off from that point, including material from Stranger than Fiction (1994) up through The New America (2000). It was during this period of their career that Bad Religion had risen in popularity. Like All Ages, Punk Rock Songs contains live tracks and omits anything from Recipe for Hate, which was released between Generator and Stranger than Fiction.\n\nAlthough this compilation album was released after The Process of Belief, it contains no songs from that album as Bad Religion had switched record labels by that time.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Punk Rock Song\"\n \"The Gray Race\"\n \"The Streets of America\"\n \"A Walk\"\n \"Ten in 2010\"\n \"New America\"\n \"I Love My Computer\"\n \"It's A Long Way to the Promise Land\"\n \"Hear It\"\n \"Raise Your Voice\" (with Campino of Die Toten Hosen)\n \"No Substance\"\n \"Infected\"\n \"21st Century (Digital Boy)\"\n \"Stranger Than Fiction\"\n \"Dream of Unity\"\n \"Punk Rock Song\" (German Version)\n \"Leave Mine to Me\" (Live)\n \"Change of Ideas\" (Live)\n \"Slumber\" (Live)\n \"Cease\" (Live)\nOn the Japanese and German releases, there are some extra tracks:\n \"We're Only Gonna Die\" (with Biohazard) (Live)\n \"The Henchman '98\" (Live)\n \"The Answer\" (Live)\n \"The Universal Cynic\" (Ithaca Session)\n \"The Dodo\" (Ithaca Session)\n\nBad Religion albums\n2002 greatest hits albums\nEpic Records compilation albums"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.",
"Are there any other songs from this album?",
"Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Were these popular? | 7 | Were the songs on the album, Punching Bag, popular? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | true | [
"These are the Billboard magazine number-one albums of 1956. These albums were the number-one albums on the Best-Selling Popular Record Albums chart. On March 24, 1956, the name of the chart was changed to Best-Selling Popular Albums. On July 7, 1956, the name was changed again to Best-Selling Pop Albums.\n\nChart history\n\nSee also\n1956 in music\nList of number-one albums (United States)\n\nReferences\n\n1956\nUnited States Albums",
"The Spanish Civil War, fought between 1936–1939, provided an opportunity for many European countries to evaluate new technologies and tactics, including armored warfare. At the beginning of the war, the Nationalist and Popular Fronts each possessed only five World War I-era-design Renault FT light tanks, although these were soon reinforced with imported materiel. Italy began supplying Nationalist Spain with L3/35 tankettes in August 1936. The Soviet Union soon followed suit by supplying the Popular Front with T-26 light tanks in October 1936. Germany sent its first shipments of Panzer I light tanks to the Nationalist Front in September 1936. During the war, France and Poland provided the Popular Front with a number of additional FT light tanks. A considerable number of tanks delivered to the Popular Front were subsequently captured; many of these were put into service against their former owners.\n\nThe Nationalist and Popular armies also designed and manufactured a number of their own tanks. The Nationalists, for example, began the war with three Trubia A4 prototypes, manufactured before the beginning of the conflict. They also completed the first prototype of the Verdeja light tank. This was designed to overcome the shortcomings of tanks provided by the Germans and the Italians, as well as Soviet tanks captured from the Popular Front. Popular Front production of armored vehicles was segmented throughout different areas of Spain. In the north, between 15 and 20 Carro Trubia-Naval tanks were manufactured at the factory in Sestao, conversely the Trubia factory had built only a single model Landesa tank. In Catalonia, two tanks were produced by the Maquinaría Moderna factory in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Though the Popular Front designed and manufactured many more armored fighting vehicles than the Nationalists, this ultimately worked in the Nationalists favor as the factories and their production lines were captured intact during the war.\n\nTanks in service at the beginning\n\nManufactured in Spain\n\nProduced and deployed by the Nationalists\n\nProduced and deployed by the Popular Front\n\nTanks supplied by foreign powers\n\nTanks captured by the Nationalists\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n\nCivil War\nSpanish Civil War-related lists"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.",
"Are there any other songs from this album?",
"Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities.",
"Were these popular?",
"This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, \"Those are the most magical performances of each song.\""
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | What did he do after this? | 8 | What did Turner do after releasing Punching Bag? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | 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 Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord!? 2 (formerly known as Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security!, known as Yūsha no Kuse ni Namaiki da or2, 勇者のくせになまいきだor2, literally \"For a hero, [you are] quite impudent/cheeky/bold] 2)\" in Japan) is a real-time strategy/god game for the PlayStation Portable, sequel to What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?.\n\nThe game was released in Japan in 2008, and was announced for a North American release during Tokyo Game Show 2009. This release was delayed until May 4, 2010, due to NIS America changing the game's name from Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time to Tighten Up Security! to What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 to avoid conflict with the Batman license.. The UMD release includes the first game.\n\nGameplay \nThe gameplay is almost identical to the first game, with a few different additions and changes. These include 'Mutation' (monsters can mutate in three forms: by deformity, by obesity and by gigantism) and 'The Overlord's Chamber', where you can grow monsters and observe their evolution.\nWhat Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 contains \"4 times more stages, 3.3 times more monsters and 2.3 times more heroes\" than the first game.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n\n2008 video games\nGod games\nPlayStation Portable games\nPlayStation Portable-only games\nReal-time strategy video games\nSony Interactive Entertainment games\nVideo game sequels\nVideo games developed in Japan"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.",
"Are there any other songs from this album?",
"Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities.",
"Were these popular?",
"This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, \"Those are the most magical performances of each song.\"",
"What did he do after this?",
"The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, \"Lay Low\", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Did this song do well? | 9 | Did the lead single from "Lay Low" do well? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | false | [
"Did It Again may refer to:\n\n \"Did It Again\" (Kylie Minogue song), 1997\n \"Did It Again\" (Shakira song), 2009\n \"Did It Again\" (Lil Tecca song), 2019\n\nSee also \n Do It Again (disambiguation)",
"\"Do Right\" is an R&B song from Mario's third studio album Go. It was released on December 11, 2007 as a promotional single. It was produced by Akon and written by Akon, LSG, Harold Lilly, Giorgio Tuinfort and Mario. This song is dedicated to his mother. The song did not peak any chart because it was to promote the show about his mother but the radios instantly turned the song into a hit. Mario also created a \"Do Right\" foundation.\n\nCritical reception\nAaron Fields from KSTW.com states \"I absolutely love this song. I have played this song so many times its ridiculous. It's a strong and powerful song. It really shows another side to Mario and the struggles in his life. I remember hearing a clip of this song when he had a special on TV about helping his mom getting clean from drugs. Very well written song. The lyrics, beat, melody and singing are perfect on this song. This is what you get when everything in a song agrees with one another, a perfect and powerful song\".\n\nMusic video\nThe video was directed by Mario himself and premiered on Yahoo! Music. The black and white clip shows Mario writing a letter to his mother and finding it hard for the first time. This track is allegedly a hint to Mario's personal life where his real-life mother is said to be a heroin addict. In the song he sang, \"That's why I'm here to help you fight to do right\". The video has scenes that are in the special documentary of the MTV.\n\nReferences\n\n2007 songs\nMario (American singer) songs\nSong recordings produced by Akon\nSongs written by Mario (American singer)\nSongs written by Akon\nSongs written by Giorgio Tuinfort\nSongs written by Harold Lilly (songwriter)"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.",
"Are there any other songs from this album?",
"Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities.",
"Were these popular?",
"This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, \"Those are the most magical performances of each song.\"",
"What did he do after this?",
"The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, \"Lay Low\", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014.",
"Did this song do well?",
"It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | Did the album itself sell well? | 10 | Did the album, Lay Low, sell well? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | false | [
"Like It Should Be is the only album released by Hieroglyphics subgroup, Extra Prolific. The album was released on October 25, 1994 through Jive Records and was mainly produced by group member Duane \"Snupe\" Lee and Souls of Mischief member A-Plus, with additional production handled by the likes of Domino and Mike G among others.\n\nAfter well-received efforts by other members of the Hieroglyphics crew (including Souls of Mischief's 93 'til Infinity and Casual's Fear Itself) Like It Should Be also gained positive reviews with Allmusic giving it 3 out of a possible 5 stars and calling it \"quite strong and possesses a plethora of exceptional tracks\". However like the other Hieroglyphics releases, the album failed to sell well and did not do well on the Billboard charts, peaking low on the R&B and Heatseekers charts. One charting single was released, \"Brown Sugar\", which peaked at 41 on the Rap Singles chart.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Intro\"- :41 \n\"Brown Sugar\"- 3:21 \n\"In Front of the Kids\"- 2:40 \n\"Is It Right?\"- 3:21 \n\"Sweet Potato Pie\"- 3:54 \n\"Cash Money\"- 1:27 \n\"One Motion\"- 2:59 \n\"Never Changing\"- 3:06 \n\"First Sermon\"- 3:27 \n\"Now What\"- 3:32 \n\"It's Alright\"- 2:44 \n\"In 20 Minutes\"- 3:11 \n\"Go Back to School\"- 3:13 \n\"The Fat Outro\"- 2:58\n\"Brown Sugar (Domino Remix)\"- 3:12\n\"Give It Up\"- 2:51\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1994 debut albums\nJive Records albums",
"The discography of Kansas, an American rock band, consists of 16 studio albums, seven live albums, nine compilation albums, and 29 singles. Formed by members Kerry Livgren, Robby Steinhardt, Dave Hope, Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh, and Rich Williams, the group signed a recording contract with Kirshner Records in 1974. That same year they released their self-titled debut album.\n\nAfter the release of two albums in 1975, including Masque (which sold half a million copies in the United States), the group released Leftoverture in October 1976. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single \"Carry On Wayward Son\", which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, leading the album to sell over five million copies in the United States. The following year, their fifth album Point of Know Return was issued and certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America; it spawned the Top 10 single \"Dust in the Wind\". After the release of a live album, the group sixth studio release Monolith was issued in 1979, which spawned two singles. Audio-Visions was released in 1980 and certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Their eighth studio album Vinyl Confessions contained the single \"Play the Game Tonight\", which became their first Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in four years; however, the album itself did not sell well. Eventually, after the release of a ninth studio album in 1983, the group disbanded.\n\nKansas reformed again in 1985 and released the studio album Power in 1986 on MCA Records, whose single \"All I Wanted\" reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. After the release of another album in 1988, the group reunited seven years later for the Freaks of Nature album (1995) on Intersound Records. In 1998, Always Never the Same was released on River North Records, followed by Somewhere to Elsewhere in 2000 on Magna Carta Records. Another studio album, The Prelude Implicit, appeared in 2016.\n\nAccording to the Recording Industry Association of America, Kansas have sold 15.5 million records.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nSingles\n\nOther album appearances\n\nReferences\n\nDiscographies of American artists\nRock music group discographies\nDiscography"
]
|
[
"Josh Turner",
"2012-present: Punching Bag and Deep South",
"What is Punching Bag?",
"Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville",
"When was this released?",
"June 12, 2012",
"What are some songs from this album?",
"preceded by the single \"Time Is Love\".",
"Was this song popular?",
"The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard.",
"Did this song win any awards?",
"The album's second single \"Find Me a Baby\", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.",
"Are there any other songs from this album?",
"Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities.",
"Were these popular?",
"This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, \"Those are the most magical performances of each song.\"",
"What did he do after this?",
"The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, \"Lay Low\", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014.",
"Did this song do well?",
"It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks.",
"Did the album itself sell well?",
"I don't know."
]
| C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_0 | What other songs were on this album? | 11 | What other songs were on the album Lay Low besides the lead single? | Josh Turner | Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012 and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011 and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts. Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song." The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album will be released sometime in March 2017. The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single. . Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017. CANNOTANSWER | The second single, "Hometown Girl", will be released to radio on May 31, 2016. | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He is a devout Christian. About that he says, "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian." He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons, Hampton, Colby, Crawford (called Marion), and Samuel (called Hawke).
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
1977 births
American bass-baritones
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from South Carolina
Francis Marion University alumni
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
MCA Records artists
People from Florence, South Carolina
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | false | [
"Followers is an album by the American contemporary Christian music (CCM) band Tenth Avenue North. It was released by Provident Label Group, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, under its Reunion Records label, on October 14, 2016. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart, and No. 151 on the Billboard 200. Three singles from the album were released: \"What You Want\" in 2016, and \"I Have This Hope\" and \"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" in 2017, all of which appeared on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart.\n\nRelease and performance \n\nFollowers was released on October 14, 2016, by Provident Label Group LLC, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. It first charted on both the US Billboard Christian Albums and Billboard 200 on the week of November 5, 2016, peaking that week on both charts at No. 5 and No. 151, respectively.\n\nThree singles were released from the album. The first, \"What You Want\", was released five months in advance of the album on May 13, 2016, and charted on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs list, peaking at No. 17 on September 3, 2016. The other two were released in 2017 after the album, and reached the top 10 on Hot Christian Songs: \"I Have This Hope\" peaked at No. 5 on June 10, 2017, and \"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" peaked at No. 7 on January 13, 2018.\n\nReception \n\nCCM Magazine gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, and cited its \"killer vocal work on honest, relatable lyrics paired with ... strong songwriting.\"\n\nChristian review website JesusFreakHideout rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. The review said the album was \"pretty much what you would expect from a CCM release\" and wrote that \"What You Want\" was \"the most energetic song on the album\". It singled out the opening track as \"excellent\" and the closing track as \"powerful\", and characterized the remaining songs as \"eight solid but otherwise ordinary tracks.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\"Afraid\" (3:48)\n\"What You Want\" (3:37)\n\"Overflow\" (3:40)\n\"I Have This Hope\" (3:24)\n\"One Thing\" (3:28)\n\"Sparrow (Under Heaven's Eyes)\" (3:59)\n\"No One Can Steal Our Joy\" (3:40)\n\"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" (4:08)\n\"Fighting for You\" (3:22)\n\"I Confess\" (5:15)\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n2016 albums\nTenth Avenue North albums",
"\"Black Coffee\" is a song with music by Sonny Burke and words by Paul Francis Webster. The song was published in 1948.\n\nSarah Vaughan charted with this song in 1949 on Columbia; arranged by Joe Lipman, it is considered one of the most notable versions.\n\nPeggy Lee recorded the song on May 4, 1953, and it was included on her first LP record Black Coffee.\n\nIt was included in the soundtrack for the 1960 Columbia Pictures feature Let No Man Write My Epitaph, recorded on Verve by Ella Fitzgerald, also in 1960. The version by Ella Fitzgerald was a favourite song of Polish Nobel Prize laureate Wisława Szymborska who chose it as the song to be performed at her funeral.\n\nRelationship to song \"What's Your Story, Morning Glory?\"\n\n\"Black Coffee\"'s first two measures are nearly identical to Mary Lou Williams 1938 piece \"What's Your Story Morning Glory\", and both songs share melodic motifs drawn from blues (including a strong melodic emphasis on the flat third and flat seventh intervals, known as \"blue notes\"). Williams felt that Burke and Webster plagiarized her composition, and reportedly considered taking legal action over the matter. The two songs have significant melodic and rhythmic differences after the first two measures of their respective 'A' sections, and \"Black Coffee\" has a unique bridge section that has no parallel in \"Morning Glory\". However, during her piano solo, Williams plays both the identical feel and harmonies that appear on \"Black Coffee,\" with dominant chords moving up and down by half steps in lieu of staying on the tonic chord. While not a carbon copy, Burke and Webster arguably picked sections of \"What's Your Story Morning Glory\" to string together to create a new song. Coincidentally, jazz trumpeter Paul Webster (no relation to lyricist Paul Francis Webster) was given co-writer credit for \"Morning Glory\" by Williams when she published her song in 1938.\n\nOther Recordings\nOther versions of \"Black Coffee\" were performed by:\n\nAnn Richards on a single release with Stan Kenton (1955) \nMartha Hayes on her album A Hayes Named Martha (1956)\nPat Suzuki on her album Miss Pony Tail (1957).\nRay Charles on his album The Great Ray Charles (1957)\nBobby Darin on his album This is Darin (1960)\nJulie London – Around Midnight (1960), The Ultimate Collection (2005)\nChris Connor – Double Exposure (with Maynard Ferguson) (1961)\nJane Morgan - on her album What Now My Love? (1962).\nEarl Grant on his albums Midnight Sun (1962) and In Motion (1968)\nRosemary Clooney on her album Thanks for Nothing (1964)\nSonny Criss – This Is Criss (1966)\nRuth Brown on the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis album The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis featuring Miss Ruth Brown (1968)\nPetula Clark on her album The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener (1968)\nThe Pointer Sisters on the album That's a Plenty (1974)\nRoseanna Vitro on her debut album Listen Here (1984)\nJanis Siegel on the album At Home (1987)\nVivian Lord on the album Route 66 (1987)\nk.d. lang on the album Shadowland (1988)\nCarmen McRae on the album Sarah: Dedicated to You (1991)\nSinéad O'Connor on the album Am I Not Your Girl? (1992)\nDiane Schuur on her covers album In Tribute (1992)\nElkie Brooks on her album Round Midnight (1993)\nStanford Fleet Street Singers on their album What You Want (1994)\nPatricia Kaas on her album Café Noir (1996)\nMartina Topley-Bird and Tricky on the album Nearly God (1996)\nAlexia Vassiliou on her album In a Jazz Mood (1996)\nMary Coughlan on \"Red Blues\" album (2002)\nClaire Martin on her album Too Darn Hot (2002)\nMaria Muldaur on her album A Woman Alone With The Blues (2002)\nNana Mouskouri on her live album Nana Swings (2003)\nKimiko Itoh on her album Once You've Been in Love (2004)\nBarbara Lusch on Spotify (2004)\nDual Sessions on Vintage Café - Lounge & Jazz Blends (2007) \nMarianne Faithfull for her album Easy Come, Easy Go (2008)\nAnita Eccleston on her album Anita Eccleston Jazz EP (2011)\nApril Hall on her album Room for Two (2012)\nCaroll Vanwelden on her album Don't Explain (2013)\nClare Maguire on her EP Clare Maguire (2014)\n\nReferences \n\nSongs with music by Sonny Burke\nSongs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster\n1948 songs\nPeggy Lee songs\nTorch songs\nSarah Vaughan songs"
]
|
[
"Pete Maravich",
"Later life and death"
]
| C_7a47529a4d6242489384cc97e06de9d6_1 | who is pete maravich | 1 | Who is Pete Maravich? | Pete Maravich | After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. Eventually, he embraced evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player." On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great. I just feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career.
One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.
Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.
Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School. His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.
College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.
In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)
More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.
NCAA career statistics
Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6
Varsity
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2
Professional career
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy. And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.
Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors. And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game. But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season. Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season. His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round. However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.
Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA). With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.
The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments. Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game. However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.
New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU. To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.
The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season. Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.
Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement. Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.
The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA. He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game. He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.
Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.
The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz. Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.
Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.
The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.
Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.
During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-
Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982. Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."
On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.
Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.
Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ... My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."
Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.
On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.
In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.
A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.
Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.
Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity.
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball.
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled, Maravich Memories: The LSU Years.
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins.
The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".
Collegiate awards
The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
UPI Player of the Year (1970)
Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
AP College Player of the Year (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
#23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament
Collegiate records
Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
Field goals made, career: 1,387
Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on
NBA awards
NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)
NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Broken by Vince Carter on
Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls,
Broken by Ben Wallace on
Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks ()
Maravich: 2,063
Lou Hudson: 2,029
Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,
Maravich: 45
Nate Williams: 41
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.
Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks, (2 OT)
See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
Further reading
Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .
Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press
References
External links
NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio
Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete
Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics
1947 births
1988 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American evangelicals
American men's basketball players
American people of Serbian descent
Atlanta Hawks draft picks
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Celtics players
College basketball announcers in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball players
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Needham B. Broughton High School alumni
New Orleans Jazz players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Basketball players from Raleigh, North Carolina
Utah Jazz players | false | [
"Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich is a documentary of \"Pistol\" Pete Maravich. It first aired on CBS during the Final Four Tournament on April 1, 2001. It was produced by George Roy, written by Steven Stern, and narrated by Harry Connick, Jr. It is considered the most comprehensive documentary about Maravich ever produced.tage, plus a host of rare interviews, including Julius Erving, Les Robinson, and the camera-shy Jackie Maravich. Maravich biographer Wayne Federman is interviewed throughout and also served as a film consultant.\n\nExternal links\n\nPistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich at Yahoo TV\n\nAmerican basketball films\nAmerican films\nDocumentary films about basketball\nCBS network films\nCollege basketball mass media in the United States\n2001 television films\n2001 films",
"The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend is a 1991 biographical sports film about the 1959 8th grade basketball season of Pete Maravich and his father Press Maravich. The film, which presents his early beginnings and the origin of the \"Pistol\" nickname, is set in Clemson, SC, where the elder Maravich served as head coach for Clemson Tigers men's basketball. The film is regarded as a family film that is listed by several Christian book and film clubs. The film was originally released on January 17, 1991 in theatres, on November 8, 2005 on DVD, and on November 11, 2013 on Blu-ray. The film was produced soon after Pete Maravich's 1988 death.\n\nPlot\nThe film shows Maravich's efforts to make the D. W. Daniel High School varsity team as an eighth grader as he deals with racially charged issues in the deep south of the 1950s. Press Maravich serves as his son's drill sergeant, motivator, coach and cheerleader.\n\nSet in 1959 Clemson, SC, the film begins with Pete Maravich shooting in the back yard as his father, Press, impresses the importance of focusing on a goal with dedication and diligence. In addition to motivational talks, Press gave Pete a range of drills and technique advice. At school, Pete perceives himself as an outcast even on the basketball team, where at one point he was benched for ten games. Pete believed in himself and his father stood behind him. Pete begins dribbling the basketball regularly and in strange situations such as during his bike rides while he keeps it with him around the clock. Pete's coach looks down on Pete's fancy basketball skills as the kind of thing that the Blacks from the bad part of town do. Eventually, when Pete is given the chance, he wins the game. Because he shot the basketball from the hip, he earned the nickname \"Pistol Pete\". Even after winning the state championship, Press convinced the coach and team that they can't really be champions without beating the all black Cleveland High School in an unofficial contest. Press concluded the film with the advice to \"give the fans a show they'll never forget, and they'll come back again and again.\"\n\nCast\nMillie Perkins as Helen Maravich\nNick Benedict as Press Maravich\nBoots Garland as Coach Vern Pendleton\nTom Lester as Pete Maravich (Adult)\nAdam Guier as Pete Maravich\n\nProduction\nThe Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was produced soon after Pete Maravich's January 5, 1988 death when producers decided to capture the story of his legend. It was a low budget movie.\n\nCritical commentary\nIn 2014, Complex named it the 19th best basketball movie of all time. Hal Erickson of AllMovie said that \"The film is for the most part an exercise in joie de vivre\" and he lauded the film for making the most of a small budget. Using words like \"uplifting\" and \"heartwarming\", CD Universe says the film depicts the devotion of a father to his son and of a boy to the game of basketball. Ted Baehr's Movieguide depicts Maravich as a misfit at school, while his father attempts to give him dreams at home. Movieguide describes the film as subtle with emphasis on the value of sharing of special moments in life.\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Pistol: The Birth of a Legend Inspirational Edition DVD at Pistol Pete Videos\n\n1990s biographical films\n1991 films\nAmerican basketball films\nAmerican biographical films\nAmerican films\nBiographical films about sportspeople\nCultural depictions of American men\nCultural depictions of basketball players\nEnglish-language films\nFilms set in the 1950s\nFilms set in South Carolina\nSports films based on actual events"
]
|
[
"Pete Maravich",
"Later life and death",
"who is pete maravich",
"I don't know."
]
| C_7a47529a4d6242489384cc97e06de9d6_1 | when did he die | 2 | When did Pete Maravich die? | Pete Maravich | After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. Eventually, he embraced evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player." On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great. I just feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CANNOTANSWER | On January 5, 1988, | Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career.
One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.
Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.
Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School. His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.
College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.
In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)
More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.
NCAA career statistics
Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6
Varsity
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2
Professional career
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy. And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.
Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors. And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game. But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season. Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season. His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round. However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.
Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA). With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.
The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments. Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game. However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.
New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU. To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.
The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season. Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.
Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement. Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.
The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA. He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game. He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.
Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.
The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz. Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.
Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.
The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.
Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.
During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-
Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982. Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."
On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.
Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.
Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ... My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."
Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.
On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.
In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.
A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.
Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.
Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity.
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball.
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled, Maravich Memories: The LSU Years.
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins.
The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".
Collegiate awards
The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
UPI Player of the Year (1970)
Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
AP College Player of the Year (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
#23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament
Collegiate records
Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
Field goals made, career: 1,387
Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on
NBA awards
NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)
NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Broken by Vince Carter on
Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls,
Broken by Ben Wallace on
Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks ()
Maravich: 2,063
Lou Hudson: 2,029
Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,
Maravich: 45
Nate Williams: 41
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.
Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks, (2 OT)
See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
Further reading
Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .
Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press
References
External links
NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio
Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete
Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics
1947 births
1988 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American evangelicals
American men's basketball players
American people of Serbian descent
Atlanta Hawks draft picks
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Celtics players
College basketball announcers in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball players
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Needham B. Broughton High School alumni
New Orleans Jazz players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Basketball players from Raleigh, North Carolina
Utah Jazz players | true | [
"Hagen Friedrich Liebing (18 February 1961 – 25 September 2016), nicknamed \"The Incredible Hagen\", was a German musician and journalist, best known as the bassist for the influential punk band Die Ärzte. \n\nIn 1986, drummer Bela B invited him to join Die Ärzte. The two knew each other from early Berlin punk days. The band disbanded in 1988. Liebing tried his hand at journalism shortly thereafter. He wrote several articles for Der Tagesspiegel, and was the senior music editor of Tip Berlin since the mid-1990s. \n\nWhen Die Ärzte reunited in 1993, Liebing did not join them. However, he did join them on stage as a special guest in 2002. In 2003, he published his memoirs The Incredible Hagen – My Years with Die Ärzte. From 2003 to 2010, he headed the Press and Public Relations at the football club Tennis Borussia Berlin. \n\nLiebing died in Berlin on 25 September 2016, after a battle with a brain tumor.\n\nReferences\n\n1961 births\n2016 deaths\nMusicians from Berlin\nGerman male musicians\nGerman journalists\nDeaths from cancer in Germany\nDeaths from brain tumor",
"Johann Karl Wezel (October 31, 1747 in Sondershausen, Germany – January 28, 1819 in Sondershausen), also Johann Carl Wezel, was a German poet, novelist and philosopher of the Enlightenment.\n\nLife\nBorn the son of domestic servants, Wezel studied Theology, Law, Philosophy and Philology at the University of Leipzig. Early philosophical influences include John Locke and Julien Offray de La Mettrie. After positions as tutor at the courts of Bautzen and Berlin, Wezel lived as a freelance writer. A short stay in Vienna did not result in him getting employed by the local national theater. He thus moved back to Leipzig and, in 1793, to Sondershausen, which he did not leave again until his death in 1819.\n\nAlthough his works were extremely successful when they were published, Wezel was almost forgotten when he died. His rediscovery in the second half of the 20th century is mainly due to German author Arno Schmidt who published a radio essay about him in 1959.\n\nWorks\n Filibert und Theodosia (1772)\n Lebensgeschichte Tobias Knauts, des Weisen, sonst der Stammler genannt: aus Familiennachrichten gesammelt (1773–1776)\n Der Graf von Wickham (1774)\n Epistel an die deutschen Dichter (1775)\n Belphegor oder die wahrscheinlichste Geschichte unter der Sonne (1776)\n Herrmann und Ulrike (1780)\n Appellation der Vokalen an das Publikum (1778)\n Die wilde Betty (1779)\n Zelmor und Ermide (1779)\n Tagebuch eines neuen Ehmanns (1779)\n Robinson Krusoe. Neu bearbeitet (1779)\n Ueber Sprache, Wißenschaften und Geschmack der Teutschen (1781)\n Meine Auferstehung (1782)\n Wilhelmine Arend oder die Gefahren der Empfindsamkeit (1782)\n Kakerlak, oder Geschichte eines Rosenkreuzers aus dem vorigen Jahrhunderte (1784)\n Versuch über die Kenntniß des Menschen (1784–1785)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n1747 births\n1819 deaths\nPeople from Sondershausen\n\nGerman male writershuort escrouesr"
]
|
[
"Pete Maravich",
"Later life and death",
"who is pete maravich",
"I don't know.",
"when did he die",
"On January 5, 1988,"
]
| C_7a47529a4d6242489384cc97e06de9d6_1 | where did he die | 3 | Where did Pete Maravich die? | Pete Maravich | After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. Eventually, he embraced evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player." On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great. I just feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CANNOTANSWER | at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, | Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career.
One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.
Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.
Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School. His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.
College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.
In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)
More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.
NCAA career statistics
Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6
Varsity
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2
Professional career
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy. And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.
Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors. And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game. But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season. Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season. His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round. However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.
Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA). With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.
The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments. Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game. However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.
New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU. To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.
The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season. Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.
Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement. Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.
The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA. He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game. He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.
Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.
The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz. Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.
Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.
The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.
Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.
During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-
Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982. Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."
On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.
Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.
Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ... My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."
Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.
On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.
In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.
A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.
Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.
Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity.
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball.
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled, Maravich Memories: The LSU Years.
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins.
The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".
Collegiate awards
The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
UPI Player of the Year (1970)
Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
AP College Player of the Year (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
#23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament
Collegiate records
Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
Field goals made, career: 1,387
Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on
NBA awards
NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)
NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Broken by Vince Carter on
Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls,
Broken by Ben Wallace on
Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks ()
Maravich: 2,063
Lou Hudson: 2,029
Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,
Maravich: 45
Nate Williams: 41
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.
Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks, (2 OT)
See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
Further reading
Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .
Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press
References
External links
NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio
Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete
Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics
1947 births
1988 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American evangelicals
American men's basketball players
American people of Serbian descent
Atlanta Hawks draft picks
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Celtics players
College basketball announcers in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball players
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Needham B. Broughton High School alumni
New Orleans Jazz players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Basketball players from Raleigh, North Carolina
Utah Jazz players | true | [
"Hagen Friedrich Liebing (18 February 1961 – 25 September 2016), nicknamed \"The Incredible Hagen\", was a German musician and journalist, best known as the bassist for the influential punk band Die Ärzte. \n\nIn 1986, drummer Bela B invited him to join Die Ärzte. The two knew each other from early Berlin punk days. The band disbanded in 1988. Liebing tried his hand at journalism shortly thereafter. He wrote several articles for Der Tagesspiegel, and was the senior music editor of Tip Berlin since the mid-1990s. \n\nWhen Die Ärzte reunited in 1993, Liebing did not join them. However, he did join them on stage as a special guest in 2002. In 2003, he published his memoirs The Incredible Hagen – My Years with Die Ärzte. From 2003 to 2010, he headed the Press and Public Relations at the football club Tennis Borussia Berlin. \n\nLiebing died in Berlin on 25 September 2016, after a battle with a brain tumor.\n\nReferences\n\n1961 births\n2016 deaths\nMusicians from Berlin\nGerman male musicians\nGerman journalists\nDeaths from cancer in Germany\nDeaths from brain tumor",
"Hermann Wilbrand (22 May 1851 – 17 September 1935) was a German ophthalmologist born in Giessen. Wilbrand's father and grandfather were also physicians. \n\nIn 1875, he earned his doctorate at the University of Strassburg, and afterwards was an assistant to Ludwig Laqueur (1839-1909) at Strassburg and to Carl Friedrich Richard Förster (1825-1902) at Breslau. Later he moved to Hamburg, where he became head of the department of ophthalmology at Allgemeines Hospital in 1905.\n\nWilbrand specialized in the field of neuro-ophthalmology and did extensive research involving the pathology and physiology of the eye. He demonstrated that homonymous hemianopsia was caused by lesions in the occipital lobe and optic radiation as well as the optic tract.\n\nAssociated eponyms \n Wilbrand's knee: A group of extramacular ganglion cell axons that extend forward into the posterior optic nerve.\n Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome: Syndrome involving visual agnosia and the inability to re-visualize images. Condition due to occlusion of the posterior cerebral artery of the dominant hemisphere. Named with French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893).\n\nWritten works \n Die hemianopischen Gesichtsfeldformen und das optische Wahrnehmungscentrum. Wiesbaden, 1890. \n Über Sehstörungen bei funktionellen Nervenleiden. with Alfred Saenger (1860-1921) Leipzig, 1892. \n Die Erhohlungsausdehnung des Gesichtsfeldes. Wiesbaden, (1896). \n Über die Augenerkrankungen in der Frühperiode der Syphilis. with Staelin. Hamburg and Leipzig, 1897. \n Die Neurologie des Auges: ein Handbuch für Nerven- und Augenärtze. (with Alfred Saenger; 9 volumes). Wiesbaden, 1900-1922. \n Die Theorie des Sehens. with Carl Behr (1876-1943) (supplementary volume, 1927), Wiesbaden, 1913. \n Der Faservelauf durch das Chiasma und die intrakraniellen Sehnerven. Berlin, 1929.\n\nReferences\n\n Ophthalmology Hall of Fame (biography of Hermann Wilbrand)\n\n1851 births\n1935 deaths\nGerman ophthalmologists\nPeople from Giessen"
]
|
[
"Pete Maravich",
"Later life and death",
"who is pete maravich",
"I don't know.",
"when did he die",
"On January 5, 1988,",
"where did he die",
"at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California,"
]
| C_7a47529a4d6242489384cc97e06de9d6_1 | how did he die | 4 | How did Pete Maravich die? | Pete Maravich | After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. Eventually, he embraced evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player." On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great. I just feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CANNOTANSWER | collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 | Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career.
One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.
Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.
Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School. His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.
College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.
In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)
More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.
NCAA career statistics
Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6
Varsity
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2
Professional career
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy. And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.
Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors. And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game. But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season. Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season. His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round. However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.
Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA). With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.
The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments. Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game. However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.
New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU. To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.
The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season. Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.
Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement. Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.
The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA. He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game. He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.
Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.
The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz. Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.
Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.
The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.
Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.
During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-
Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982. Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."
On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.
Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.
Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ... My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."
Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.
On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.
In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.
A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.
Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.
Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity.
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball.
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled, Maravich Memories: The LSU Years.
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins.
The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".
Collegiate awards
The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
UPI Player of the Year (1970)
Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
AP College Player of the Year (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
#23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament
Collegiate records
Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
Field goals made, career: 1,387
Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on
NBA awards
NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)
NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Broken by Vince Carter on
Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls,
Broken by Ben Wallace on
Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks ()
Maravich: 2,063
Lou Hudson: 2,029
Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,
Maravich: 45
Nate Williams: 41
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.
Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks, (2 OT)
See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
Further reading
Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .
Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press
References
External links
NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio
Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete
Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics
1947 births
1988 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American evangelicals
American men's basketball players
American people of Serbian descent
Atlanta Hawks draft picks
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Celtics players
College basketball announcers in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball players
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Needham B. Broughton High School alumni
New Orleans Jazz players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Basketball players from Raleigh, North Carolina
Utah Jazz players | true | [
"How Not to Die may refer to:\n How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America’s Favorite Medical Examiner, a 2008 book by Jan Garavaglia\n How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, a 2015 book by Michael Greger",
"Die Mannequin is a Canadian alternative rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded by guitar player and singer Care Failure (born Caroline Kawa) in 2005. The band has toured across Canada several times, opening for Buckcherry, Guns N' Roses, Marilyn Manson and Sum 41. They have also toured Europe on several occasions, alone and as an opening act for Danko Jones in 2008.\n\nHistory\nRising from the ashes of Care Failure's first four-piece band \"The Bloody Mannequins\", Die Mannequin started in the spring of 2006 when Failure recorded her first EP, How to Kill, on How To Kill Records/Cordless Recordings. She sang, played guitar and bass on this EP because she did not have a permanent backing band at that time. Death from Above 1979's Jesse F. Keeler took care of the drum duties as well as production. The E.P. featured four songs and was produced by Keeler and partner Al-P from MSTRKRFT and was mastered by Ryan Mills at Joao Carvalho Mastering. Care Failure was also a member of the supergroup The Big Dirty Band, which included members from the Canadian hardrock band Rush, amongst others. They have recorded a cover version and video of The Bobby Fuller Four song I Fought The Law. This video also featured Anthony Useless, even though he did not play on any of the recordings. It was featured as a soundtrack to the 2006 movie Trailer Park Boys: The Movie.\n\nFailure later hired two of her longtime friends, Ethan Deth (of Toronto band Kïll Cheerleadër) and Pat M. (a.k.a. Ghostwolf), to play bass and drums. Deth was quickly replaced by Anthony \"Useless\" Bleed, also from Kïll Cheerleadër. He played bass guitar and provided backing vocals. Managed by Shull Management, Die Mannequin signed with EMI Publishing in the summer of 2006, and began their own record label, How To Kill Records which is distributed by Warner Music Canada. They were booked as one of the opening bands for Guns N' Roses' eastern leg of their 2006 North-American tour.\n\nDie Mannequin released a new EP in the fall of 2007 entitled Slaughter Daughter. Two tracks, \"Do It Or Die\" and \"Saved By Strangers\", were produced by Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent. The other two tracks, \"Upside Down Cross\" and \"Lonely Of A Woman\", were produced by Junior Sanchez. There was also a live recording of \"Open Season\" included on this EP. The band released a video for the first single, \"Do it or Die\", which entered rotation on Much Music and Much Loud.\n\nBoth EPs have been collected on a single disc entitled Unicorn Steak which features two unreleased songs: an early demo of \"Empty's Promise\" and the cover of the Beatsteaks song Hand in Hand. A video was also recorded after the release of Unicorn Steak, for the song \"Saved By Strangers\", directed by Canadian director Bruce McDonald. He has also directed a documentary about Die Mannequin, entitled The Rawside of Die Mannequin, which premiered at Toronto's North By North East festival on June 15, 2008.\n\nIn 2009 Die Mannequin took part in a documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had Care Failure reflecting on her memories of CFNY, 102.1 the Edge.\n\nOn September 8, 2009, Die Mannequin released FINO + BLEED, mixed by Mike Fraser.\n\nIn 2009, they opened for the Canadians dates of the Marilyn Manson's The High End of Low Tour.\n\nOn March 21, 2012, Die Mannequin announced on their website that they would be releasing new music mid April, along with a new single and music video. This coincided with the release of Hard Core Logo 2.\n\nOn August 20, 2014, the band released a single for their upcoming album, titled \"Sucker Punch\". Their second full-length album, Neon Zero was released on October 28, 2014. Exclaim! Magazine called it 'evil dance metal'.\n\nMembers\nCurrent members\nCaroline \"Care Failure\" Kawa - vocals, guitar, bass (2005–present)\nKevvy Mental - bass, backing vocals (2015–present)\nKeith Heppler - drums, percussion (2015–present)\nJ.C. Sandoval - guitar, backing vocals (2015–present)\nFormer members\nAnthony \"Useless\" Bleed - bass, backing vocals (2006–2014)\nDazzer Scott - drums, percussion (2009–2014)\nStacy Stray - guitar, backing vocals (2009–2014)\nEthan Kath - bass (2006)\nGhostwolf - drums, percussion (2006–2009)\n\nSession members\nJesse F. Keeler - drums, percussion (on How To Kill EP)\nJack Irons - drums, percussion (on Fino + Bleed)\n\nDiscography\nDie Mannequin has released two recognized albums to date and two EPs.\n\nSingles\n\nStudio albums\nFino + Bleed (2009)\nNeon Zero (2014)\n\nCompilations\nUnicorn Steak (2008)\n\nEPs\nHow To Kill (2006)\nSlaughter Daughter (2007)\nDanceland (2012) No. 76 CAN\n\nSoundtracks\n\nInterviews\nDie Mannequin gets darker and warns of Toronto rapist - From Torontomusicscene.ca\n\nSee also\n\nMusic of Canada\nCanadian rock\nList of Canadian musicians\nList of bands from Canada\n:Category:Canadian musical groups\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCare Failure Interview – Truth Mag\nDie Mannequin Neon Zero\n\nMusical groups established in 2005\nMusical groups from Toronto\nCanadian punk rock groups\nCanadian alternative rock groups\nCordless Recordings artists\n2005 establishments in Ontario"
]
|
[
"Pete Maravich",
"Later life and death",
"who is pete maravich",
"I don't know.",
"when did he die",
"On January 5, 1988,",
"where did he die",
"at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California,",
"how did he die",
"collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40"
]
| C_7a47529a4d6242489384cc97e06de9d6_1 | what was he doing when he died | 5 | What was Pete Maravich doing when he died of heart failure? | Pete Maravich | After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics. Eventually, he embraced evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player." On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great. I just feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CANNOTANSWER | playing in a pickup basketball game | Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career.
One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.
Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.
Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school. While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School. His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker. From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.
College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.
In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.
Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)
More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.
NCAA career statistics
Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6
Varsity
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2
Professional career
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin. He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson. In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy. And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.
Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors. And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game. But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season. Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season. His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record. Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round. However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.
Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA). With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.
The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments. Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game. However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.
New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA. The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU. To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.
The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season. Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.
Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement. Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.
The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA. He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game. He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.
Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.
The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz. Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.
Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.
The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.
Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.
During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-
Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982. Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity. A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."
On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.
Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.
Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ... My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."
Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.
On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.
In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.
A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.
Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.
Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity.
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball.
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled, Maravich Memories: The LSU Years.
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins.
The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".
Collegiate awards
The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
Naismith Award Winner (1970)
Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
UPI Player of the Year (1970)
Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
AP College Player of the Year (1970)
The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on
All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
#23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament
Collegiate records
Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
Field goals made, career: 1,387
Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on
NBA awards
NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)
NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Broken by Vince Carter on
Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls,
Broken by Ben Wallace on
Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks ()
Maravich: 2,063
Lou Hudson: 2,029
Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,
Maravich: 45
Nate Williams: 41
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.
Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves,
Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks, (2 OT)
See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
Further reading
Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .
Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press
References
External links
NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio
Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete
Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics
1947 births
1988 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American evangelicals
American men's basketball players
American people of Serbian descent
Atlanta Hawks draft picks
Atlanta Hawks players
Basketball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Celtics players
College basketball announcers in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball players
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Needham B. Broughton High School alumni
New Orleans Jazz players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Basketball players from Raleigh, North Carolina
Utah Jazz players | true | [
"\"What She's Doing Now\" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Garth Brooks. It was released in December 1991 as the third single from his album Ropin' the Wind. It spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. It was co-written by Pat Alger.\n\nContent\nThe song is a ballad about a man who wonders what his former lover is currently doing and what her whereabouts are (\"last I heard she had moved to Boulder\"). While the singer has no idea what she is doing now, he proclaims \"what she's doing now is tearing [him] apart\".\n\nBackground and production\nBrooks provided the following background information on the song in the CD booklet liner notes from The Hits:\n\n\"What She's Doing Now\" was an idea I had a long, long time about a man wondering what a woman was doing. And it was very simple. What is she doing now? Is she hanging out the clothes? Is she running a business? Is she a mother? Is she married? Who is she with? When I told the idea to Pat Alger, he looked at me with a smile and said, 'I wonder if she knows what she's doing now to me?' When I heard that, the bumps went over my arms and the back of my neck, and I knew that he had something. Crystal Gayle cut this song back in 1989. It came back to us for the Ropin' The Wind album. It is a song that has crossed all boundaries and borders around the world. This has made me extremely happy because the greatest gift a writer can ask for is to relate to someone. I can't help but think that this song might relate to a lot of people.\"\n\nOther versions\nWhile Garth Brooks penned the song, he was not the first person to release it. On the 1990 release Ain't Gonna Worry'', Crystal Gayle recorded the song as \"What He's Doing Now\"; her version was not released as a single.\n\nTrack listing\nEuropean CD single\nLiberty CDCL 656\n\"What She's Doing Now\"\n\"Shameless\"\n\"We Bury The Hatchet\"\nUS 7\" Jukebox single\nLiberty S7-57784\n\"What She's Doing Now\"\n\"Friends in Low Places\"\n\nChart positions\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1991 singles\nCrystal Gayle songs\nGarth Brooks songs\nSongs written by Pat Alger\nSongs written by Garth Brooks\nSong recordings produced by Allen Reynolds\nLiberty Records singles\n1991 songs",
"\"I Love What Love Is Doing to Me\" is a song written by Johnny Cunningham. It was recorded by American country music artist Lynn Anderson and released as a single in 1977 via Columbia Records, becoming a top 40 hit that year.\n\nBackground and release\n\"I Love What Love Is Doing to Me\" was recorded in April 1977 at the Columbia Studio, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The sessions was produced by Glenn Sutton, Anderson's longtime production collaborator at the label and her first husband. It was co-produced by Steve Gibson, making the session Anderson's first experience under the co-production of Gibson. Nine additional tracks were recorded at this particular session, including the major hit \"He Ain't You.\"\n\n\"I Love What Love Is Doing to Me\" was released as a single in May 1977 via Columbia Records. The song spent ten weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart before reaching number 22 in July 1977. The song was issued on Anderson's 1977 studio album I Love What Love Is Doing to Me/He Ain't You.\n\nTrack listings \n7\" vinyl single\n \"I Love What Love Is Doing to Me\" – 2:10\n \"Will I Ever Hear Those Churchbells Ring?\" – 3:32\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n1977 singles\n1977 songs\nColumbia Records singles\nLynn Anderson songs\nSong recordings produced by Glenn Sutton"
]
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